SnmUEL  m.  ZUE(T)ER 


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CHILDHOOD  IN 
THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 


By 
A.  E.  and  S.  M.  Zwemer 

Zigzag  Journeys  in  the  Camel  Coun- 
try. Arabia  in  Picture  and  Story.  Illus- 
trated, izmo,  cloth,  net  ^i.oo. 
"  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Zwemer  are  charming  guides,  for 
they  know  the  customs  and  the  history,  they  see 
the  most  interesting  places  and  people,  and  are  full 
of  cheery,  good  humor,  and  Christian  common 
sense.  We  commend  the  book  highly  for  interest 
and  information." — Missionary  Review  of  World. 

Topsy-Turvy  Land.  Arabia  Pictured  for 
Children.  Illustrated,  1 2mo,  cloth,  net  .75. 
"  A  book  of  pictures  and  stories  for  big  children 
and  small  grown-up  folk,  for  all  who  love  Sinbad 
the  Sailor  and  his  strange  country.  This  strange 
country  is  Arabia,  where  judged  by  our  way  of 
looking  at  things,  manners,  customs  and  everything 
else  looks  topsy-turvy." — Boston  Globe. 

By  S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.  R.  G.  S. 

Fourth  Edition  Revised 

Arabia  :   The  Cradle  of  Islam.     Studies 
in  the  Geography,  People  and  Politics  of  the 
Peninsula  ;  with  an    account  of  Islam   and 
Missionary    Work.     With    Maps   and  nu- 
merous   illustrations    from    Drawings    and 
Photographs.      8vo,  cloth,  net  $2.00. 
"  It  comes  at  once  into  the  vacant  place  of  an  up- 
to  date  authority  upon  •  the  neglected  peninsula.' 
The  comprehensive  scope  of  the  volume  covers  a 
wide  range  of  interest,  scientific  and  commercial, 
historical  and  literary,  sociological,  religious." 

—  Outlook. 


A  BRIDE  FROM  ALGERIA 


CHILDHOOD  IN 
THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 


By 
SAMUEL  M.    ZWEMER,    F.R.G.S. 

Author  of 

*' Arabia:  The  Cradle  of  Islam,"  "The  Moslem  Christ," 

"Zigzag  Journeys  in  the  Camel  Country," 

"Topsy-Turvy  Land,"  etc.,  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.    Revell    Company 

LOKDON  AKD  EdIXBUROH 


oyzif 


Copyright,  191 5,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York :  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago  :  125  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto  :  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London  :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh  :   100  Princes  Street 


DEDICATED  TO 

THE  WORLD'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ASSOCIATION 

AND  TO  ALL  WHO  LABOUR  FOR  THE 

UPLIFT  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD 


PREFACE 

MOHAMMED  was,  without  doubt,  one  of 
the  greatest  religious  leaders  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  He  was  a  genius 
and  a  poet,  a  reformer  and  a  great  warrior.  But 
Mohammed  could  never  have  said,  **  Suffer  little 
children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not, 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. '  *  His  book, 
his  life,  his  ideals,  are  not  those  of  Him  who 
placed  a  little  child  in  the  midst  and  gave  the 
world  of  childhood  an  eternal  inheritance  of 
blessedness  by  His  own  Incarnation. 

The  present  wide  and  increasing  interest  in 
child  welfare  is  due  to  Christianity,  and  makes 
the  presentation  of  the  facts  here  given  in  regard 
to  Moslem  childhood,  timely.  When  the  whole 
world  has  become  one  neighbourhood,  no  individ- 
ual or  race  can  live  to  itself. 

This  is  not  a  book  for  children,  but  about  chil- 
dren. It  could  not  be  a  book  for  them  if  it  dealt 
faithfully  and  fearlessly  with  the  real  conditions 
as  observed  by  eye-witnesses  in  many  lands. 
Every  paragraph  could  have  been  corroborated 
by  references  to  authorities  and  the  use  of  foot- 
notes ;  but  these  have  been  omitted  in  order  not  to 

7 


8  PREFACE 

litter  the  pages  of  the  text  or  weary  the  reader's 
patience.  A  list  of  correspondents  and  a  bibliog- 
raphy are  given  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  To  all 
these  missionary  workers  and  writers  I  owe 
hearty  thanks.  The  illustrations  given  are  in- 
tended to  set  forth  vividly  the  wide  extent,  the 
environment,  the  physical,  intellectual  and  social 
conditions  of  Moslem  childhood,  in  order  that 
what  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes  and  heard  with 
our  ears,  may  enter  the  heart  of  the  reader  also. 

S.  M.  ZWEMER. 
Caibo. 


CONTENTS 

I 

PAGE 

A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD 19 

The  conquest  of  Constantinople  —  The  challenge  of  St. 
Sophia  —  The  Moslem  problem  a  unity  —  Its  childhood 
a  proof  —  Statistics  of  childhood  —  Their  numbers  in 
Africa,  India,  Algeria  —  The  areas  covered  —  The 
meuzzin's  call  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  —  Many 
areas  and  languages  —  National  responsibility:  Amer- 
ica, England  —  The  urgency  of  the  task. 


II 

ENVIRONMENT 41 

Islam  born  in  the  desert  —  Margoliouth's  theory  of  the 
heat  belt  —  The  imprint  of  the  desert  on  Islam  —  The 
nomad  environment  and  its  types  of  civilization:  Balu- 
chistan--^ A  typical  village  on  the  Nile  —  The  bazaar  at 
Algiers  —  The  lot  of  womanhood  in  the  city  and  among 
the  nomads  —  Persian  village  life  —  Constantinople  — 
Islam  among  pagan  races  —  In  China  —  In  Java  —  The 
Moslem  type  of  civilization  —  Degradation  of  woman- 
hood —  Child  marriage  —  Ignorance  of  medicine  — 
Fatalism  —  A  cry  of  pain  —  A  new  environment. 


Ill 

BIRTH,  INFANCY,  AND  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  . 

The  right  of  the  child  to  be  well  born  —  The  effect  of 
heredity  —  Contagious  diseases  —  Mortality  of  infants : 
in  Egypt,  Turkey,  India,  Syria,  Morocco  —  An  incident 
from  Arabia  —  Bedouin  children  —  The  children  of 
Kashgar  —  The  leper  boy  —  Moosa's  baby  —  Inferiority 
of  girls  —  Legitimacy  —  Ceremonies  observed  at  birth : 
in  China,  Egypt,  India  —  Aqiqah  —  Circumcision  — 
Early  marriage  and  its  results  —  Ignorance  of  medicine 
—  Magic  in  Turkey  —  Medicine  in  Arabia  —  Algerian 
superstitions  —  Child  labour  in  Arabia ;   in  Persia. 

9 


10  CONTENTS 

IV 

PAOB 

THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD 115 

Al-Ghazali  —  General  neglect — Illiteracy  in  India  — 
Superstition  —  Belief  in  jinn  —  Use  of  charms  and 
amulets  —  West  Africa;    Senegal;    Kashmir;   Kordofan 

—  Buduh  —  The  religious  attitude  of  Islam  —  Grovel- 
ling superstitions  in  Morocco;  India  —  The  Zar  in 
Egypt  —  The  teacher  of  the  mosque  school  —  His  repu- 
tation; his  character  —  The  education  of  a  boy  —  The 
method  —  Higher  education  —  Children's  books  —  A 
chapter  on  prayer  —  Sex  education  gone  mad  —  Two 
fish  stories  —  Adam's  vineyard  —  The  story  of  the  heifer 

—  Moses  and  the  fish  —  Jesus  at  school  —  Neglect  of 
Bedouin  children  —  "  Give  me  God's  due !  '* 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT 159 

Based  on  Moslem  ethics  —  The  Moslem  idea  of  God  and 
of  Mohammed  —  De  Boer's  testimony  —  The  contrast  to 
Christianity  in  literature  —  The  "  Arabian  Nights  "  and 
Al  Hariri  —  Koran  teaching  on  children  —  Literature  on 
etiquette  —  Moslem  saints  not  saintly  —  The  surround- 
ings of  the  zenana  —  Degrading  conversation  —  Results 
in  Arabia,  Sumatra,  West  Africa  —  Untruthfulness  — 
Koran  teaching  on  the  subject  —  How  moral  actions 
are  divided  —  The  ceremonial  law  —  The  ten  command- 
ments —  Low  ideals  ■ —  A  tainted  atmosphere  —  The 
heart  of  a  Moslem  girl  —  A  brighter  side  of  the  picture 
—  Attempt  to  introduce  Christian  ethics. 


VI 

THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       ....     199 
Education    without    religion   unknown  —  The    effect   of 
memorizing    the    Moslem    creed  —  Allah  —  Angels    and 
demons  —  Memorizing  the  Koran  —  A   Moslem   primer 

—  The  story  of  Nuh  —  Teaching  regarding  Jesus  — 
Other  Bible  stories  —  The  Day  of  Judgment  —  Hell  not 
for  Moslem  children  —  Confession  —  Prayer  —  Ablution 

—  A  primer  on  prayer  —  The  place  of  the  mosque  — 
Result  of  this  religious  training  —  S.  Khuda  Bukhsh  — 
The  Moslem  fast  —  Almsgiving  —  Pilgrimage  —  Saint 
worship  and  Marabouts  in  Algeria  —  The  death  of  a 
child  —  The  bier  —  The  funeral  —  Mourning  the  dead. 


CONTENTS  11 

VII 

PAGB 

THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  AND  CHRISTIAN  MIS- 
SIONS      239 

The  Tiflis  coat  of  arms  —  The  advent  of  the  railway 
and  Western  civilization  —  Arabia  an  example  —  Trip- 
oli —  Persia  —  Modernist  movements  —  Dress  —  Koran, 
translations  —  Increasing  desire  for  education,  even  of 
girls  —  The  Dutch  East  Indies  —  India  —  Constanti- 
nople —  Lack  of  moral  training  —  Christian  mission- 
aries as  pioneers  of  education  —  In  Egypt  —  In  Persia 

—  In  Turkey  —  Mission  School  at  Port  Said  —  Tangier 

—  Muscat  — The  slave  trade  —  Medical  missions  — 
Christian  literature  —  The  Bible  —  Need  of  books  for 
children  —  The  fight  for  character  —  A  little  witness  — 
God's  plan  for  Moslem  childhood  —  Our  opportunity  and 
duty. 


Like  a  cradle  rocking,  rocking, 

Silent,  peaceful,  to  and  fro. 
Like   a   mother's   sweet   looks   dropping 

On  the  little  face  below, 
Hangs  the  green  earth,  swinging,  swinging^ 

Jarless,  noiseless,  safe  and  slow; 
Falls  the  light  of  God's  face  bending 

Down  and  watching  us  below. 

0  great  heart  of  God!  whose  loving 

Cannot  hindered  be  nor  crossed; 
Will  not  weary,  will  not  even 

In  our  death  itself  be  lost — 
Love  divine!  of  such  great  loving. 

Only   mothers   know   the   cost — 
Cost  of  love,  which  all  love  passing, 

Gave  a  Son  to  save  the  lost. 

— ^Helen  M.  Jackson. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACING 
PAOfa 

A  Bride  from  Algeria          ....  Title 
Young   Girl   and  Baby   of   the   Messeria   Tribe, 

Kordofan 24 

A  Little  Tartar  Girl,  Representative  of  Moslem 
Childhood  in  Russia         .         .         .         .         .28 

The  Daughter  of  the  Nawab  of  Hyderabad,  India  .  34 

Egyptian  Peasant  Woman  and  Child  ...  42 

Children  from  East  Arabia         ....  44 

Desert  Joys  of  Bedouin  Childhood       ...  46 

Four  Little  Sisters  from  Bengal  ....  52 

A  Beggar  Boy  from  Algiers        ....  54 

Persian  Seyyids  with  Their  Boys         ...  58 

Moslem  Children  from  Cape  Town       ...  62 

Group  of  Village  Women  and  Children,  Egypt     .  70 

Egyptian  Mothers  with  Their  Babies  ...  72 

Children  from  Mecca  ......  74 

Young  Moslem  Girl  from  Equatorial  Africa,  with 

Talisman  and  Beads        .....  82 

Fellah  Girl  from  an  Egyptian  Village,  with  Native 

Drum 86 

Group  of  Children  of  the  Beshari  Tribe,  Anglo- 
Egyptian  Sudan      ......  90 

Moslem  Women  and  Children  from  French  Equa- 
torial Africa  .......  94 

Little  Children,  Boys  and  Girls,  at  Tangerang  Ban- 
tam, Java,  Weaving  Hats        ....  108 

13 


14  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


The  Price  of  a  Turkish  Rug :  Moslem  Girls  in  Tur- 
key at  the  Loom      ......  110 

A  Moslem  Day  School         .....  116 

Another  Algerian  Type       .....  120 

Egyptian  Child  with  Its  Father,  Showing  Amulets 

and  Charms 124 

Tunisian  Children 132 

A  Lad  from  Tunis      ......  138 

A  Moslem  Brother  and  Sister  from  Bokhara  .  .  142 

A  Group  of  Moslem  Boys  and  Girls  from  Muscat, 
Arabia:  The  Royal  Family       ....     152 

The  Younger  Half  of  a  Mohammedan  Family, 
Honan,   China         ......     166 

Persian  Childhood 172 

The  Present  Shah  of  Persia  and  the  Son  of  a 
Nobleman 178 

A  Family  Group  at  Biskra,  North  Africa     .         .     186 

Moslem  Boys  from  Garoet,  Java:  Players  of  the 
Musical  Instrument  Made  of  Bamboo,  Called  the 
Anklong 192 

The  Cry  of  the  Drowning :  An  Appeal  for  Educa- 
tion Made  by  Moslems  to  Their  Own  People  in 
Syria 202 

A  Page  from  a  Moslem  Child's  Primer        .         .     203 

Picture  of  Noah's  Ark,  and  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
Ishmael  by  Abraham,  According  to  Moslem 
Artists 204 

Moslem  Girls  in  Java,  Dressed  for  a  National  The- 
atrical Performance         .....     216 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Moslem  Dervish  Preaching  to  a  Group  of  Village 

Boys  and  Girls  in  Algeria 
A  Girl  from  Tunis     .... 
A  Young  Educated  Javanese 
Girls'  Mission  School,  Mogador,  Morocco  ) 
School  for  Moslem  Girls  at  Port  Said  .     j 
Young  Moslem  Girl  from  Abyssinia 
Good-bye 


16 

PACING 
PAGE 

226 
234 
242 

254 

258 
268 


NOTE 

"We  express  grateful  acknowledgment  for  photographs 
supplied  for  our  illustrations,  to  Miss  I.  Lilias  Trotter, 
Algiers;  Mr.  J.  Angus  Gillan,  the  Sudan;  Miss  Jenny 
von  Mayer,  Russia;  Rev.  G.  J.  Pennings,  Arabia;  Miss 
Williams,  Bengal;  Miss  G.  Y.  HoUiday,  Tabriz;  Rev. 
James  Cantine,  D.D.,  Arabia;  Miss  MacNale,  Morocco; 
Rev.  J.  P.  McNaughton,  Turkey ;  Mrs.  J.  R.  van  Andel, 
Java ;  Mr.  Frank  B.  Rairden,  Cairo ;  Mr.  G.  Garabedian, 
Cape  Town;  Dr.  J.  A.  Menzies,  Honan,  China;  Rev.  G. 
E.  Brown,  Hyderabad;  Rev.  Charles  Ogilvie,  Peking; 
and  to  the  photographers  G.  Lekegian  &  Co.,  Cairo,  and 
other  artists. 


I 

A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD 


"One  generation,  one  entire  generation  of  all  the  world  of 
children  understood  as  they  should  be,  loved  as  they  ask  to  be, 
and  so  developed  as  they  might  be,  would  more  than  begin  the 
millennium." — Frances  Hodgson  Burnett. 

"  Every  time  one  thinks  of  the  little  children  of  the  world  and 
then  of  our  little  children  here  at  home  his  heart  must  suffer 
for  their  sufferings,  over  the  emptiness  and  the  vanity  and  the 
hatreds,  and  the  poverty  of  their  life;  and  he  must  think  also  of 
that  holy  Child  Jesus,  the  Father's  little  Son,  who  came  down  to 
make  these  little  children  and  their  lives  as  rich  and  fragrant  and 
full  of  joy  as  the  lives  of  our  children  here  at  home." — Robert 
E.  Speer. 

"  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the 
iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me;  And  shewing  mercy 
unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  me,  and  keep  my  command- 
ments."— Ex.  XX:  5. 


A  WOELD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD 

WHEN  the  Turks  conquered  Constantino- 
ple, May  29, 1453,  the  defenceless  Chris- 
tian inhabitants  fled  in  crowds  to  the 
Christian  Church,  Aya  Sophia,  in  the  belief,  we 
are  told,  that  as  soon  as  the  enemy  had  reached 
the  pillar  of  Constantine  the  Great,  an  angel 
would  appear  in  the  heavens  and  scatter  the 
victors.  But  there  was  no  supernatural  deliver- 
ance. The  Turks  came,  the  refugees  were  made 
prisoners,  and  the  temple  of  Constantius  and 
Justinian  was  consecrated  to  Islam.  Sultan 
Murad  III.  had  a  crescent  measuring  a  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  diameter  put  in  place  of  the  cross, 
and  gilded  at  great  expense,  so  that  now  from 
afar,  even  from  distant  Olympia,  Moslems  may 
see  the  symbol  of  their  faith  glittering  in  the 
sun. 

Clear  as  the  dome  and  minarets  of  St.  Sophia 
and  equally  challenging,  the  Moslem  problem 
stands  before  the  world  of  Christendom.  In 
Europe  Islam  has  been  an  intruder,  in  Asia  a 
usurper,  and  in  Africa  a  rival  of  Christianity.    Its 

19 


20     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

three  great  capitals  dominate  three  continents. 
Mecca  has  been  the  heart  of  the  Moslem  world  for 
many  centuries,  and  is  to-day  the  pilgrim  centre 
for  one-seventh  of  the  human  race.  From  Sierra 
Leone  to  Canton,  and  from  Tobolsk  to  Singapore, 
the  faithful  spread  their  prayer  carpets,  build 
their  houses,  and  bury  their  dead  toward  Mecca. 
Constantinople  faces  two  continents  and  two 
great  civilizations,  and  still  remains  the  city  of 
the  Caliphate,  although  of  a  tottering  empire. 
Cairo  is  the  capital  of  Egypt,  the  metropolis  of 
all  Africa,  and  the  literary  centre  of  the  Moslem 
world.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  in  Islam 
where  the  voice  of  the  Cairo  press  is  not  heard. 
Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth  and 
their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

The  unity  of  the  Moslem  problem,  however,  is 
not  political  or  intellectual  merely.  Islam  pre- 
sents a  solidarity  of  organization,  methods,  and 
spirit  unparalleled  and  unapproached  by  any 
other  organized  world  force  against  the  Christian 
Church.  It  is  inter-continental,  inter-national, 
and  inter-racial,  and  yet  distinct  and  well  defined 
in  the  midst  of  nations  and  races  and  religious 
forces.  This  unity  knows  no  geographical  lines 
nor  racial  barriers.  It  is  distinguished  by  intel- 
lectual ideals,  and  by  social  and  religious  ties, 
characterized  by  their  elasticity  and  tenacity,  and 
by  their  prominence  and  power.    When  we  speak 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       21 

of  Islam,  therefore,  we  face  an  intellectual,  a  so- 
cial, and  a  moral  problem  of  which  all  the  factors 
can  be  coordinated  and  related  among  different 
races  and  in  many  lands.  The  conditions,  as  well 
as  the  difficulties,  are  largely  similar.  The  line  of 
approach  has  been  proved  to  be  almost  identical, 
and  the  methods  of  successful  work  the  same  from 
Morocco  to  Peking. 

A  careful  study  of  all  the  facts  collected  in  the 
chapters  that  follow  will  show  clearly  that  the 
unity  of  the  Moslem  world  is  specially  evident 
in  the  condition  of  its  childhood.  One-eighth  of 
all  the  children  in  the  world  live  under  the  shadow 
of  the  crescent  in  the  lands  of  Islam.  It  has  been 
remarked  by  Alonzo  Bunker  that  the  attractive- 
ness of  childhood  among  all  races  **  sometimes 
appears  to  be  accentuated  among  less  intelligent 
peoples ;  so  that,  before  the  fogs  of  sin  and  igno- 
rance have  blurred  the  image  of  God  in  which  they 
were  created,  they  show  a  strength  and  brightness 
more  marked  than  in  their  more  favoured 
brothers  and  sisters  in  enlightened  lands.  This 
fact  has  not  received  due  attention  in  ethnological 
studies."  The  faces  of  Moslem  children  from 
many  lands  that  illustrate  the  chapters  of  this 
book  are  a  proof  of  this  statement.  They  portray 
the  best  and  not  the  worst;  the  bright,  not  the 
dark  side  of  Islam.  The  hope  of  the  Moslem 
world  is  in  its  childhood,  and  when  one  looks  into 


20     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

three  great  capitals  dominate  three  continents. 
Mecca  has  been  the  heart  of  the  Moslem  world  for 
many  centuries,  and  is  to-day  the  pilgrim  centre 
for  one-seventh  of  the  human  race.  From  Sierra 
Leone  to  Canton,  and  from  Tobolsk  to  Singapore, 
the  faithful  spread  their  prayer  carpets,  build 
their  houses,  and  bury  their  dead  toward  Mecca. 
Constantinople  faces  two  continents  and  two 
great  civilizations,  and  still  remains  the  city  of 
the  Caliphate,  although  of  a  tottering  empire. 
Cairo  is  the  capital  of  Egypt,  the  metropolis  of 
all  Africa,  and  the  literary  centre  of  the  Moslem 
world.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  in  Islam 
where  the  voice  of  the  Cairo  press  is  not  heard. 
Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth  and 
their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

The  unity  of  the  Moslem  problem,  however,  is 
not  political  or  intellectual  merely.  Islam  pre- 
sents a  solidarity  of  organization,  methods,  and 
spirit  unparalleled  and  unapproached  by  any 
other  organized  world  force  against  the  Christian 
Church.  It  is  inter-continental,  inter-national, 
and  inter-racial,  and  yet  distinct  and  well  defined 
in  the  midst  of  nations  and  races  and  religious 
forces.  This  unity  knows  no  geographical  lines 
nor  racial  barriers.  It  is  distinguished  by  intel- 
lectual ideals,  and  by  social  and  religious  ties, 
characterized  by  their  elasticity  and  tenacity,  and 
by  their  prominence  and  power.    When  we  speak 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       21 

of  Islam,  therefore,  we  face  an  intellectual,  a  so- 
cial, and  a  moral  problem  of  which  all  the  factors 
can  be  coordinated  and  related  among  different 
races  and  in  many  lands.  The  conditions,  as  well 
as  the  difficulties,  are  largely  similar.  The  line  of 
approach  has  been  proved  to  be  almost  identical, 
and  the  methods  of  successful  work  the  same  from 
Morocco  to  Peking. 

A  careful  study  of  all  the  facts  collected  in  the 
chapters  that  follow  will  show  clearly  that  the 
unity  of  the  Moslem  world  is  specially  evident 
in  the  condition  of  its  childhood.  One-eighth  of 
all  the  children  in  the  world  live  under  the  shadow 
of  the  crescent  in  the  lands  of  Islam.  It  has  been 
remarked  by  Alonzo  Bunker  that  the  attractive- 
ness of  childhood  among  all  races  **  sometimes 
appears  to  be  accentuated  among  less  intelligent 
peoples ;  so  that,  before  the  fogs  of  sin  and  igno- 
rance have  blurred  the  image  of  God  in  which  they 
were  created,  they  show  a  strength  and  brightness 
more  marked  than  in  their  more  favoured 
brothers  and  sisters  in  enlightened  lands.  This 
fact  has  not  received  due  attention  in  ethnological 
studies.''  The  faces  of  Moslem  children  from 
many  lands  that  illustrate  the  chapters  of  this 
book  are  a  proof  of  this  statement.  They  portray 
the  best  and  not  the  worst;  the  bright,  not  the 
dark  side  of  Islam.  The  hope  of  the  Moslem 
world  is  in  its  childhood,  and  when  one  looks  into 


9.%     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  bright  faces  of  these  smiling  infants,  or  mis- 
chievous, happy  boys  and  girls,  one  remembers 
that  of  these  too  it  may  be  said,  '  *  Trailing  clouds 
of  glory  do  they  come. ' '  But  from  their  earliest 
years  they  enter  nevertheless  into  the  inheritance 
of  Islam. 

No  religion,  as  we  shall  see,  pays  such  early 
attention  to  the  religious  training  of  the  child, 
and  so  little  attention  to  its  moral  education  as 
does  Islam.  To  all  of  these  children  the  ideal  of 
character  is  Mohammed;  he  is  their  hope  for  sal- 
vation, and  God's  will  for  them  is  revealed  in  the 
Koran.  Of  their  attitude  toward  Mohammed  in 
every  part  of  the  Moslem  world,  one  may  almost 
hear  them  say:  **Our  Lord  Mohammed — 


"  Through  him  the  first  fond  prayers  are  said 
Our  lips  of  childhood  frame; 
The  last  low  whispers  of  our  dead 
Are  burdened  with  his  name. 

"  O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all, 
Whate'er  our  name  or  sign, 
We  own  thy  sway,  we  hear  thy  call, 
We  test  our  lives  by  thine!  " 


The  total  population  of  this  world  which  tests 
its  life  by  the  life  of  Mohammed  and  follows  his 
teaching  is  estimated  at  201,000,000.  Of  these 
42,000,000  live  in  Africa,  2,300,000  in  Europe,  and 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       23 

nearly  all  the  rest  in  Asia  and  Malaysia/  In  the 
table  which  follows  we  present  a  statistical  survey 
of  the  number  and  distribution  of  Moslem  children, 
basing  our  estimates  upon  government  reports 
and  the  most  recent  and  conservative  statistics. 
According  to  the  *^  Encyclopedia  Britannica" 
the  number  of  children  in  the  world  under  fifteen 
in  every  thousand  of  the  population  is  four  hun- 
dred. As  this  estimate  is  based  on  European 
statistics,  the  percentage  is  less  than  that  which 
obtains  in  Eastern  lands  where  families  are  gen- 
erally larger  and  early  marriage  prevails.  Ac- 
cording to  the  last  census  of  the  United  States, 
the  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  are  nearly 
thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  total  population;  and 
although  Moslem  childhood  does  not  last  so  long 
as  childhood  in  "Western  lands,  since  the  burdens 
and  responsibilities  of  motherhood  and  father- 
hood are  early  thrust  upon  them,  we  have  never- 
theless taken  forty  per  cent  as  a  minimum  esti- 
mate. This  gives  a  total  population  of  Moslem 
children  of  over  80,000,000,  divided  as  follows : 

A^^^^rf.  Moslem  Children 

In  countries  under  British  rule  or 

protection 9,120,000 

In  French  colonies  and  possessions .  6,000,000 

Eemainder  of  Africa 1,600,000 

^  For  details  of  Moslem  world  population  see  "  A  New  Statistical 
Survey "  in  The  Moslem  World,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  146-167. 


M     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

^  •  .  Moslem  Children 

India  and  dependencies,  with  Fed- 
erated Malay  States 27,000,000 

Dutch  East  Indies 14,120,000 

Philippine  Islands 121,000 

French  possessions 80,000 

Eussia  (in  Asia  and  Europe) 8,000,000 

Turkish  Empire  and  Arabia 6,000,000 

Afghanistan   2,000,000 

China    3,400,000 

Persia 1,800,000 

Siam 120,000 

Europe 900,000 

North  and  South  America 70,000 

80,331,000 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  what  this  means  in  a 
statistical  table,  for,  as  Carlyle  remarks,  *^  Masses 
indeed,  and  yet  singular  to  say,  if  thou  follow 
them  into  their  garrets  and  hutches,  the  masses 
consist  of  units,  every  unit  of  whom  has  his  own 
heart  and  sorrows!''  The  line  of  Moslem  chil- 
dren if  they  stood  together,  holding  hands,  would 
stretch  exactly  twice  around  the  globe's  circum- 
ference of  40,000,000  metres.  The  Moslem  chil- 
dren of  India  alone,  marching  with  hands  on 
each  other's  shoulders,  would,  reach  in  one  un- 
broken procession  fifteen  times  the  distance  from 
New  York  to  Chicago ;  or  if  we  count  the  Moslem 
children  in  India  and  in  Persia  together,  we  have 
nearly  29,000,000  children  under  fifteen  years  of 


YOUNG  GIRL  AND  BABY  OF  THE  MESSERIA  TRIBE,  KORDOFAN 

On  the  border-marches  of  Islam.     Notice  the  amulet  worn  by  the 

older  child,  her  jewelry,  and  the  curious  braiding  of  her  hair. 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       25 

age.  According  to  the  census  of  1910  the  whole 
family  of  childhood  in  the  United  States  was  only 
a  little  larger,  namely  29,499,136.  The  problem 
of  child  welfare  in  this  section  of  the  Moslem 
world  alone,  therefore,  is  equally  large  statis- 
tically as  it  is  for  the  United  States.  Yet  in  the 
latter  case  we  have  a  Christian  environment,  free, 
compulsory  education,  and  large  expenditures  for 
the  betterment  of  childhood.  In  the  case  of  India, 
we  know  that  96%  per  cent  of  Moslem  adults  are 
illiterate,  and  that  no  provision  is  made  for  the 
masses  of  its  Moslem  childhood  for  either  intel- 
lectual or  moral  training. 

One-third  of  all  the  babies  born  in  Africa  wear 
Moslem  charms  or  talismans  around  their  necks, 
like  the  young  girl  and  baby  of  the  Messeria 
tribe,  Kordofan,  in  our  picture.  And  in  many 
cases  this  is  their  only  clothing!  In  Kashmir 
alone  there  are  more  Moslem  children  than  the 
total  population  of  the  great  city  of  Liverpool; 
while  the  number  of  Moslem  children  found  in 
China  is  a  million  more  than  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  Chicago.  The  world  of  childhood  repre- 
sented in  this  volume  would  fill  seventeen  cities 
as  large  as  London,  and  yet  even  here  the  com- 
parisons seem  inadequate  to  impress  one  with  the 
need  and  the  opportunity  of  these  little  ones  for 
whom  Christ  died.  In  the  case  of  Algeria  we 
have  fuller  statistics  carefully  collated  by  mis- 


S6      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sionary  workers.  In  that  one  Moslem  country- 
there  are  710,488  native  boys  and  girls  between 
the  ages  of  five  and  fourteen,  and  331,287  baby 
boys  under  five  years  of  age.  If  God  should  call 
us  out,  as  He  did  Abraham,  to  tell  the  stars,  we 
would  have  to  count  all  of  those  visible  to  the 
naked  eye  in  the  whole  starry  vault  one  hundred 
times  over  to  reach  the  number  of  Moslem  boys 
in  Algeria  alone.  He  Who  healeth  the  broken 
in  heart  and  bindeth  up  their  wounds,  WTio 
telleth  the  number  of  the  stars  and  calleth  them 
all  by  their  names,  knows  the  name  also  of  every 
Moslem  child  in  Algeria  and  throughout  the 
world.  He  not  only  knows  them  by  name  because 
He  is  their  Father,  but  He  loves  them.  His  own 
word  assures  us,  **  Whosoever  shall  receive  one 
such  little  child  in  My  name  receiveth  Me.'^ 

What  the  term  ** Moslem  childhood''  includes  be- 
comes evident  also  when  we  consider  areas  as  well 
as  populations.  All  of  North  Africa  and  nearly  all 
of  Central  and  Western  Asia  are  dominated  by 
Islam.  Between  the  nearer  and  farther  East, 
north  of  India  and  south  of  the  Siberian  steppes, 
stretches  the  region  known  as  Central  Asia,  the 
roof  of  the  world,  where  three  great  empires, 
India,  Eussia,  and  China,  meet.  Here  three  great 
religions  have  struggled  for  the  mastery,  and 
one  after  the  other  held  supreme  for  centuries; 
and  although  Buddhism  and   Christianity   still 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       27 

count  a  few  adherents,  Islam  has  swept  the  field 
and,  except  for  Tibet,  the  whole  is  under  its  sway. 
The  nomads  only  profess  this  religion  nominally, 
but  the  settlers,  especially  those  in  Bokhara,  may 
be  counted  amon^  the  most  fanatical  Moslems  in 
the  world.  The  social  life,  literature,  architecture, 
art,  etiquette,  and  everyday  speech  of  all  Central 
Asia  bear  the  trademark  of  Islam.  An  ordinary 
pocket  compass  goes  by  the  name  of  **  Mecca- 
pointer,''  and  1,500  Chinese  Moslem  pilgrims 
go  by  the  Karakoram  Pass,  the  highest  in 
the  world,  to  Mecca  every  year.  Persia,  that 
**fallen  empire  slumbering  in  the  sun,  forgotten 
by  the  busy  West,  remote  from  its  ways  and  its 
works,  unthreaded  by  its  railways,  known  but  as 
a  name, ' '  has  a  world  all  its  own  of  Moslem  child- 
hood, for  Moslems  here  belong  to  the  Shiah  sect, 
which  in  some  respects  is  more  exclusive  than 
any  other.  Afghanistan  is  socially  and  morally 
one  of  the  darkest  places  of  the  earth,  full  of  the 
habitations  of  cruelty.  It  is  an  unoccupied  mis- 
sion field.  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  people  are 
illiterate,  womanhood  is  degraded,  and  the  whole 
population  is  Moslem.  Baluchistan  to  the  south 
is  also  wholly  Moslem,  and  yet  the  Moslem  popu- 
lation of  Arabia,  Persia,  Turkey,  Afghanistan, 
and  Baluchistan  together  does  not  equal  that  of 
a  single  island  in  the  Malay  Archipelago,  Java, 
which  has   29,627,557   Mohammedans,   of  whom 


28     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

forty  per  cent  are  children.  Sumatra,  too,  has  its 
share  of  Moslem  childhood,  as  have  the  Federated 
Malay  States  with  their  great  seaport  Singapore. 
Islam  has  made  inroads  upon  the  population  of 
Burma  and  Ceylon  and  Madagascar.  In  Africa 
it  is  pushing  its  conquests  southward  and  west- 
ward in  the  basins  of  the  Congo  and  the  Niger. 

Islam  stretches  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic. 
Before  the  dawn  paints  the  sky  red,  the  Moslem 
boys  among  the  Moros  in  the  Philippine  Islands 
hear  the  muezzin's  call  to  prayer.  An  hour  later 
it  is  taken  up  on  the  minarets  of  Java.  Still  an 
hour  later  it  is  heard  in  the  Moslem  quarter  of 
Calcutta.  Sixty  minutes  later  the  cry,  *^God  is 
great  and  Mohammed  is  God's  apostle,''  is  heard 
in  Bombay  with  its  teeming  Moslem  population, 
and  along  all  this  meridian  through  Afghanistan 
and  Central  Asia.  Another  hour  goes  by,  and 
from  the  oldest  mosques  of  Samarkand  and 
Bokhara  the  same  call  to  prayer  rings  out.  It 
is  now  high  noon  in  the  Philippines,  but  the  cry 
rings  in  Mecca  six  hours  later, — the  same  words 
that  were  heard  for  the  first  time  thirteen  cen- 
turies earlier.  Again  an  hour  passes,  and  the 
muezzin  calls  at  Cairo ;  another  hour,  and  his  voice 
is  heard  at  Tripoli;  again  an  hour,  and  he  calls 
to  prayer  at  Algiers,  and  finally  the  same  cry, 
'* Mohammed  is  God's  Apostle,"  rings  out  over 
the  Atlantic  at  Freetown  and  Sierra  Leone.    So 


A    LITTLE   TARTAR    GIRL 

Representative  of  Moslem  childhood  in  Russia.     The  total  Moslem 
population  of  Russia  is  20,000,000. 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       29 

it  is  that,  in  a  sense  which  the  poet  never  intended, 
we  may  say  of  Islam  also : 

"As  o'er  each  continent  and  island 

The  dawn  leads  on  another  day. 

The  voice  of  prayer  is  never  silent, 

Nor   dies   the   strain  of  praise  away." 

But  it  is  the  praise  of  Mohammed  and  not  prayer 
in  the  name  of  Christ. 

There  are  points  still  farther  west  and  east  than 
those  mentioned,  which  must  also  be  included  in 
the  world  of  Moslem  childhood.  A  considerable 
number  of  Moslems  live  at  Perth,  Australia, 
where  they  have  built  a  beautiful  mosque;  at 
Jamaica,  West  Indies,  where  they  are  winning 
negro  Christians  to  their  faith;  at  Cape  Town 
and  in  Brazil;  in  Georgetown,  Guiana,  and  some 
other  points  in  South  America.  These  groups, 
however,  are  numerically  unimportant. 

The  world  of  Moslem  childhood  is  polyglot. 
Mohammed  the  prophet  spoke  Arabic  and  called 
it  the  language  of  the  angels.  He  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  but  dictated  the  Koran  text  in  this 
language.  The  call  to  prayer,  as  well  as  the 
prayers  offered,  must  be  in  Arabic  throughout  the 
whole  world  of  Islam.  Yet  to  three-fourths  of 
those  who  believe  Mohammed's  message,  Arabic 
is  a  language  not  understood  of  the  people.  The 
Arabic  religious  vocabulary  has  forced  its  way 


30      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

into  many  other  tongues  spoken  by  Moham- 
medans, and  its  alphabet  has  been  adopted  or 
adapted  in  many  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  The 
Koran  has  been  translated  into  Persian,  Urdu, 
Turkish,  Javanese,  Bengali,  and  two  or  three 
other  languages,  but  these  translations  are  ex- 
pensive, rare,  and  not  commonly  used.  The  chief 
literary  languages  of  Islam  next  to  Arabic  are 
Persian,  Turkish,  Urdu,  Bengali,  Chinese,  and 
Eussian.  In  these  there  exists  a  considerable 
religious  literature.  The  chief  Moslem  languages 
in  Africa  next  to  Arabic  are  Kisuaheli,  Hausa, 
Berber,  and  Kabyle.  In  India  we  must  add  to 
this  list  of  polyglots,  among  many  others,  Pun- 
jabi, Gujerati,  Kashmiri,  Baluchi,  and  Pushtu; 
while  for  Asia  Minor  and  Europe,  in  addition  to 
Turkish,  there  are  Kurdish,  Albanian,  and  a  num- 
ber of  Turkish  dialects. 

The  Bible  has  been  translated,  or  a  portion  of 
the  New  Testament  at  least,  into  all  these  lan- 
guages of  the  Moslem  world ;  yet  it  is  well  to  em- 
phasize at  the  outset  the  fact  that  these  Moslem 
lands,  and  therefore  this  world  of  Moslem  child- 
hood, has  been  greatly  neglected,  and  in  some  cases 
utterly  omitted  from  the  programme  of  world- 
wide missions.  How  full  of  pathos  are  the  words 
of  Miss  Von  Mayer,  who  writes  from  Samarkand : 
''I  shall  gather  information  as  to  numbers,  edu- 
cation, and  mortality  of  children  here,  but  I  can- 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       31 

not  contribute  to  your  report  anything  as  to  the 
religious  work  done,  for  not  a  single  one  of  the 
one  and  a  half  million  Moslem  children  in  this 
field,  at  any  time  or  anywhere,  comes  into  con- 
tact with  Christianity."  What  she  says  of 
Bokhara  and  EJiiva  is  true  also  of  Chinese  Tur- 
kestan, of  the  nomad  tribes  in  the  deserts  of 
Gobi  and  Mongolia,  of  all  Afghan  children,  of 
those  in  Central  and  Western  Arabia,  the  extreme 
south  of  Persia,  and  most  of  Baluchistan.  And 
to  this  the  unoccupied  areas  of  Moslem  popula- 
tion in  Africa — most  of  Morocco,  the  southern 
half  of  Algeria,  Tripoli,  the  Atlas  Riff  country, 
the  uncounted  thousands  of  the  Sahara  districts, 
the  millions  of  Nigeria  and  the  Sudan,  and  the 
thousands  in  British,  French,  and  Italian  Somali- 
land — and  we  face  a  problem  of  unreached  and 
utterly  neglected  childhood  which  we  must  lay 
upon  our  hearts  as  it  rests  upon  the  heart  of 
God.  The  total  number  of  children  in  these 
wholly  unoccupied  areas  is  not  less  than  40,000,- 
000,  untouched  by  any  Christian  influences. 

Aside  from  all  missionary  claims  upon  the 
churches  of  Christendom,  no  one  can  deny  that 
there  exists  a  great  and  grave  national  responsi- 
bility toward  this  world  of  childhood,  on  the  part 
of  European  Governments  which  have  been  made 
morally  responsible,  through  colonial  expansion 
or  conquest,  for  the  childhood  in  these  areas. 


32      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

This  white  man's  burden  of  responsibility  for  the 
social,  intellectual — ^we  will  not  say  religious — 
condition  of  those  who  are  under  European  Gov- 
ernments cannot  be  shifted.  And  no  believer  in 
God  can  doubt  that  there  is  a  divine  purpose  in 
thus  entrusting  the  material,  moral,  and  spiritual 
interests  of  these  millions  to  those  who  call  them- 
selves Christians. 

Before  the  breaking  out  of  the  great  European 
war  and  the  changes  which  will  doubtless  take 
place  after  it  as  regards  colonial  rule  in  Africa, 
the  total  number  of  Mohammedans  under  British 
rule  or  protection  was  90,478,111.  Of  these,  in 
round  numbers  22,000,000  live  in  Africa  and 
68,000,000  in  Asia.  Great  Britain  practically 
holds  the  balance  of  power  political  in  the  Moslem 
world.  Next  in  order  of  importance  is  Holland, 
with  not  less  than  35,000,000  Moslems  in  her 
colonies.  Russia  has  20,000,000  Moslem  subjects 
and  France  15,000,000  in  Africa  and  232,000  in 
Asia.  Germany  and  Italy  each  counted  about  the 
same  number  of  Moslems  in  their  African  pro- 
tectorates, the  former  1,480,000  and  the  latter 
1,365,000.  Portugal,  Belgium,  and  Spain  also 
have  a  Moslem  population  in  their  African  pos- 
sessions, but  only  in  the  case  of  Portugal  does 
the  total  exceed  a  quarter  of  a  million.  The 
United  States  of  America  faces  its  largest  mis- 
sionary problem  in  the  Moros  of  the  Philippine 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       33 

Islands  group.  These  number  277,547,  and  are  all 
Moslems.  This  is  the  largest  single  unit  of  un- 
evangelized  people  within  the  bounds  of  the 
United  States  Government.  Socially,  intellectu- 
ally, morally,  and  spiritually  these  people  are  the 
most  needy  of  all,  and  therefore  have  the  greatest 
claim  upon  the  nation  which  boasts  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  and  should  have  equal  privi- 
leges. Savage  and  fierce  as  the  Moros  may  be, 
they  are  physically  and  mentally  superior  to  the 
surrounding  pagans  who  inhabit  the  hills  and  the 
interior  of  Mindanao.  Islam  has  here  undoubt- 
edly raised  the  standard  of  civilization.  With 
Mohammedanism  came  art  and  knowledge  and 
communication  with  the  outside  world.  Never- 
theless, as  William  H.  Taft  remarked  when  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Philippines:  **They  do  not  under- 
stand republican  government.  They  welcome  a 
despotism,  and  they  will  never  understand  popu- 
lar government  until  they  have  been  converted  to 
Christianity," 

In  the  case  of  all  these  possessions  and  colonies 
it  is  evident  that  the  problem  of  secular  educa- 
tion for  Moslem  childhood  rests  first  of  all  upon 
the  government.  Illiteracy,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
is  well-nigh  universal  among  Moslems,  and  it  is 
not  impossible,  even  with  a  government  that  pro- 
fesses strict  religious  neutrality,  to  afford  such 
education,  mental  and  moral,  as  shall  be  an  uplift 


34     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  these  backward  races.  Great  Britain,  France, 
Germany,  and  the  Netherlands  have  done  much  for 
the  economic  development  of  their  colonies,  and  so 
have  removed  many  hindrances  to  real  progress. 
They  have  also  given  Moslems  special  induce- 
ments to  accept  Western  education.  Above  all, 
with  a  few  notable  exceptions,  they  have  granted 
liberty  for  missionary  effort.  On  the  other  hand, 
Great  Britain  in  East  Africa  and  in  Nigeria  seems 
to  aim  at  conserving  Islam  wherever  it  finds  that 
faith,  and  although  not  actively  and  officially  pro- 
Moslem,  it  yet  furthers  the  spread  of  this  religion 
in  pagan  districts.  Dr.  St.  Clair  Tisdall  writes: 
^*At  present  the  government  *  appears  to  put 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  all  concerned  in  seeking 
to  evangelize  the  people  of  British  East  Africa.' 
So  much  has  this  been  the  case  that  not  long  since 
the  various  missions  sent  a  special  deputation  to 
urge  that  the  government  should  at  least  be  neu- 
tral, and  no  longer  use  its  influence  to  keep  the 
chiefs  and  others  from  Christian  teaching,  nor 
show  a  tendency  to  encourage  Islam  as  more  suit- 
able for  the  people  than  Christianity.  The  gov- 
ernment has  gone  out  of  its  way  to  build,  open, 
and  support  schools  for  Arabs,  Suahelis,  and 
others,  in  which  no  Christian  teaching  may  be 
given.  There  are  some  reasons  for  hoping,  how- 
ever, that  this  foolish  and  unworthy  policy  will  be 
modified,  if  not  abandoned.'' 


THE  DAUGHTER  OF   THE  NAWAB   OP  HYDERABAD,  INDIA 

Type  of  the  educated  and  wealthy  Moslems  in  this  great  province. 

The  total  population  of  Hyderabad  is  13,374,676, 

and  the  Moslem  population  1,380,990. 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       35 

The  same  writer,  basing  his  testimony  on  reli- 
able sources,  says  in  regard  to  Nigeria: 

**Our  local  government  identifies  itself  with 
Islam  against  Christianity,  and  actually  adopts  an 
attitude  toward  Christian  missions  which  the  Is- 
lamic Government  of  Persia  itself  no  longer  ven- 
tures to  take  up.  The  missionaries  are  actually 
afraid  to  inform  the  English  public  of  the  worst 
details  of  the  way  in  which  their  work  is  restricted 
and  the  Mohammedan  religion  recognized  as  pa- 
tronized by  the  government  and  treated  as  if  it 
were  the  established  religion  of  this  English  Pro- 
tectorate, lest  worse  oppression  should  follow. 
But  in  the  Times,  some  two  years  ago,  an  English- 
man in  high  position  was  permitted  to  urge  that 
no  religious  instruction  except  Mohammedan 
should  be  allowed  in  the  government  schools,  nor 
did  that  journal  allow  a  reply  to  appear.  Hence 
the  Koran  is  now  taught  by  Moslem  teachers  in  all 
government  schools  in  Mohammedan  districts, 
and  Islamic  law  is  now  being  introduced  and 
administered  in  pagan  tribes  in  Northern 
Nigeria.  This  4s  worse  than  a  crime;  it  is  a 
blunder.'  " 

Whatever  governments  do  for  the  welfare  of 
childhood  must  be  done  now.  One  generation  of 
children  trained  in  the  best  of  our  Western  civili- 
zation, and  above  all,  led  to  a  personal  knowledge 
of  Him  Who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men  and  the 


36     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Friend  of  little  children,  would  lead  these  back- 
ward races  toward  progress  and  enlightenment. 
The  urgency  of  this  claim  is  evident  when  we 
remember  how  short  is  the  period  of  Moslem 
childhood,  and  how  early  the  responsibilities  of 
manhood  and  womanhood  are  forced  upon  them. 
Mrs.  Stanley  Emerich,  of  Mardin,  in  writing  con- 
cerning the  shepherd  Kurds  gives  a  conversation 
between  them  which  typically  sets  forth  the  brev- 
ity of  Mohammedan  childhood : 

**  *His  grandmother  looks  for  a  wife  for  him,' 
our  informant  went  on. 

*  *  *  What ! '  I  gasped.  *  But  he  can 't  be  more  than 
nine  years  old.' 

*'  *He  is  eleven, — and  in  two  years  he  will 
marry.  He  will  have  children,  and  beat  his  wife, 
and  care  for  his  sheep,  and  some  day  die. '  Tomas 
outlined  the  tragic  life  impassively.  *He's  only 
a  Kurd.  What  are  Kurds  ? '  he  asked,  dismissing 
the  small  Sheikh  Musa  with  a  wave  of  his  hand. 
*They  are  nothing,'  he  answered  himself." 

At  the  age  of  eleven  or  twelve,  and  sometimes 
even  earlier,  the  girls  commence  to  be  secluded 
and  veiled.  Boys  in  Egypt  and  Turkey  are  often 
married  at  fifteen  and  sixteen.  In  comparison 
with  the  majority  of  children  in  Western  lands  we 
might  almost  say  that  these  children  have  no 
childhood  at  all.  Of  the  Moslems  in  the  Punjab  we 
are  told  by  Miss  Dora  Wliitely:  **The  baby  girls 


A  WORLD  OF  MOSLEM  CHILDHOOD       37 

are  engaged,  often  to  men  of  middle  age  or  more, 
and  are  actually  married  when  under  twelve  years 
of  age,  but  sometimes  remain  in  their  father's 
house  for  another  year  or  two.  A  girl's  earliest 
recollection  must  be  that  of  hearing  her  parents 
talking  about  the  *  arrangement'  which  they  have 
made  for  her."  And  a  missionary  in  Egypt 
writes:  **We  recall  hearing  one  Moslem  girl  tell 
that  she  only  knew  her  father  by  seeing  him 
through  a  lattice  window  from  the  second  story 
as  he  passed  along  the  street  below,  her  mother 
pointing  him  out  to  her.  The  girls  are  robbed  of 
the  happy,  care-free  life  of  girlhood,  and  are 
thrust,  all  unprepared,  from  childhood  into  the 
burdens  and  responsibilities  of  motherhood." 

In  the  chapters  that  follow,  the  environment  in 
which  these  children  live,  the  physical  conditions 
and  neglect  that  are  their  lot,  the  mental  and 
moral  training  they  receive  through  Islam,  and 
which  is  the  privilege  of  only  a  few,  are  laid  be- 
fore the  reader.  If  any  part  of  the  Moslem  mis- 
sionary problem  can  appeal  to  the  heart  of  Chris- 
tians, it  surely  is  this  great  world  of  child- 
hood. 

"The    great    world's    heart    is    aching,    aching    fiercely    in    the 

night, 
And  God  alone  can  heal  it,  and  God  alone  give  light; 
And  the  men  to  bear  that  message,  and  to  speak  the  living 

word, 
Are   you    and    I,    my    brothers,    and   the    millions    that   have 

heard. 


38     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

"  Can  we  close  our  eyes  to  duty  ?    Can  we  fold  our  hands  at  ease, 
While  the  gates  of  night  stand  open  to  the  pathways  of  the 

seas? 
Can  we  shut  up  our  Compassions?     Can  we  leave  our  prayer 

unsaid 
Till  the  lands  which  sin  has  blasted  have  been  quickened  from 

the  dead?" 


II 

ENVIRONMENT 


"  If  the  desert  is  the  garden  of  Allah,  it  is  also  the  abode 
of  devils  who  resent  the  intrusion  of  man  and  annoy  him  with 
sandstorms,  scorching  south  winds,  show  him  mirages  of  lakes 
and  cool  trees  when  he  is  almost  driven  mad  by  the  heat,  frighten 
his  camels  at  night,  or  trick  him  into  following  wrong  roads. 

"The  desert  has  left  an  impression  on  my  soul  which  nothing 
will  ever  efface.  I  entered  it  frivolously,  like  a  fool  who  rushes 
in  where  angels  and,  I  believe,  even  devils  fear  to  tread.  I 
left  it  as  one  stunned,  crushed  by  the  deadly  majesty  I  had  seen 
too  closely. 

"  The  desert  is  the  garden  of  Allah,  not  of  the  bountiful  God 
WTio  is  worshipped  with  harmonious  chants  of  love  in  the  soft 
incense-laden  atmosphere  of  a  cathedral,  but  the  Jehovah  of 
Israel,  a  consuming  fire,  on  Whom  no  man  can  look  and  live." 
— ^Hans   Vischeb — "Across   the  Sahara." 

"  A  certain  degree  of  similarity  in  human  character  and  an  even 
greater  similarity  of  language  prevails  over  an  immense  area, 
where  races  of  most  various  origin  have  all  been  assimilated  more 
or  less  by  the  one  which  occupies  the  healthy  crown  of  the  land, 
the  Arabian  of  Nejd."— D.  G.  Hogabth— "  The  Nearer  East." 


n 

ENVIRONMENT 

ISLAM  was  born  in  the  desert.  The  land  which 
is  the  cradle  of  this  great  world  religion  is 
one  of  the  most  unfertile  and  inaccessible 
regions,  with  an  area  of  over  a  million  square 
miles.  Arabia  has  no  rivers  and  not  a  single  one 
of  its  small  mountain  streams,  some  of  which  are 
perennial,  ever  reaches  the  seacoast.  Vast  sandy 
deserts  or  mountain  ranges,  barren  with  deso- 
lation in  its  most  frightful  form,  cover  a  large 
part  of  this  area.  North  of  Medina  a  wilderness 
of  lava-stones,  with  many  extinct  crater-heads, 
stretches  for  many  miles,  a  black,  gloomy,  barren 
region.  The  sandy  tracts  of  the  so-called  Arabian 
deserts,  which  stretch  from  Mecca  eastward  and 
northward,  are  termed  by  the  Arabs  themselves 
nefud  (drained,  exhausted,  spent),  the  name  given 
on  most  maps. 

The  general  physical  features  of  this  ** desert'' 
are  those  of  a  plain  clothed  with  stunted,  aromatic 
shrubs  of  many  varieties,  but  their  value  as 
pasture  is  very  unequal,  some  being  excellent  for 
camels  and  sheep,  others  absolutely  worthless. 

41 


42      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Some  nefuds  abound  in  grasses  and  flowering 
plants  after  the  early  rains,  and  then  the  desert 
** blossoms  like  the  rose/'  Others  are  without 
rain  and  barren  all  the  year;  they  are  covered 
with  long  stretches  of  drift-sand,  carried  about  by 
the  wind  and  tossed  in  billows  on  the  weather  side 
of  the  rocks  and  bushes.  Palgrave  asserts  that 
some  of  the  nefud  sands  are  600  feet  deep. 
They  prevail  in  the  vast  unexplored  region  south 
of  Nejd  and  north  of  Hadramaut,  including  the 
so-called  *^ Great  Arabian  Desert.''  Absolute 
sterility  is  the  dominant  feature  here,  whereas 
the  northern  nefuds  are  the  pasture  lands  for 
thousands  of  horses  and  sheep. 

The  great  wadys  of  Arabia  are  also  a  charac- 
teristic feature,  celebrated  since  the  days  of  Job. 
These  wadys,  often  full  to  the  brim  in  winter  and 
black  by  reason  of  frost,  but  entirely  dried  up 
during  the  heat  of  summer,  would  never  be  sus- 
pected of  giving  nourishment  to  even  a  blade  of 
grass  when  seen  in  the  dry  season. 

It  was  in  such  an  environment  that  Mohammed 
was  born  and  brought  up.  The  desert  was  his 
school  and  his  place  of  vision,  and  his  religion  has 
borrowed  much  from  this  early  environment  and 
first  extended  throughout  the  desert  lands  and 
plateaus  of  Central  Asia  and  North  Africa.  Pro- 
fessor Margoliouth  observes  that  in  the  main — 

**  Islam  is  a  religion  of  the  Heat  Belt,  the  part 


^ 

.,^      „  .«l. '' 

Jm 

"^4 

J  '^ 

f  ^4 

^,'^ 

'IBh 

.»■>  -'^^^^^^^^^^^^^B 

^^HM^^^%|^  '^  jj^Bi 

1                                   * 

mM 

EGYPTIAN  PEASANT  WOMAN  AND  CHILD 


ENVIRONMENT  43 

of  the  earth's  surface  which  lies  between  thirty 
degrees  north  latitude  and  thirty  degrees  south 
latitude,  with  a  mean  temperature  of  sixty-eight 
degrees  F.  ^During  the  past  five  hundred  years/ 
says  Mr.  AUeyne  Ireland,  Hhe  people  of  this  belt 
have  added  nothing  whatever  to  human  advance- 
ment. Those  natives  of  the  tropics  and  sub-tropics 
who  have  not  been  under  direct  European  influ- 
ence have  not  during  that  time  made  a  single 
contribution  of  the  first  importance  to  art,  litera- 
ture, science,  manufacture,  or  invention ;  they  have 
not  produced  an  engineer,  or  a  chemist,  or  a  biol- 
ogist, or  a  historian,  or  a  painter,  or  a  musician 
of  the  first  rank.'  Islam,  however,  has  extended 
somewhat  to  the  north  of  this  belt,  which  includes 
the  whole  of  Africa,  Arabia,  the  Malay  Peninsula, 
and  the  Malay  Archipelago;  probably  forty-one 
or  forty-two  degrees  marks  its  limit  of  extension 
northwards.  And  so  far  as  Islam  has  produced 
literary  monuments  of  the  sort  which  Mr.  Ireland 
describes,  their  authors  belong  almost  exclusively 
to  those  eleven  or  twelve  degrees." 

When  one  considers  the  present  extent  of 
Islam,  and  how  it  dominates  intellectually,  so- 
cially, and  morally  the  lives  of  millions,  moulding 
everything  according  to  its  pattern  and  produc- 
ing an  inward  unity,  even  where  outward  circum- 
stance and  condition  are  utterly  dissimilar,  it 
seems  as  if  a  sirocco  blast  has  carried  the  effect 


U     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  the  desert  everywhere.  The  mystery  and  the 
mastery  of  this  religion  obtrude  on  every  hand. 
The  Moslem  world  appears  at  times  like  the 
Sahara  Desert  does  to  the  traveller,  ^*an  enor- 
mous waste  of  splendour  and  glory,  of  richness 
and  desolation.  Grand  in  its  cruelty,  pitiless  in 
beauty,  it  fascinates,  appals,  enchains  without 
trying,  superbly  indifferent  whether  or  not  we 
care,  enriching  or  annihilating  with  equal  aloof- 
ness." 

Islam  bears  on  it  the  imprint  of  the  desert: 
fierce,  defiant,  appalling,  silent,  a  land  of  decep- 
tions and  mirages,  of  glaring  light  and  dark 
shadow  and  cruel  desolation.  When  Mohammed 
described  God  as  Light  upon  Lights  {Sural  En 
Nur),  or  when  he  pictured  the  fires  of  the  bottom- 
less pit  with  scorching,  burning  winds  and  fuel 
of  lava-stones,  he  spoke  as  a  son  of  the  desert. 
John  C.  Van  Dyke,  describing  the  desert,  calls  it 
**a  gaunt  land  of  splintered  peaks,  torn  valleys, 
and  hot  skies.  And  at  every  step  there  is  the 
suggestion  of  the  fierce,  the  defiant,  the  defensive. 
Everything  within  its  borders  seems  fighting  to 
maintain  itself  against  destroying  forces.  There 
is  a  war  of  elements  and  a  struggle  for  existence 
going  on  here  that  for  ferocity  is  unparalleled 
elsewhere  in  nature. ' '  And  such  was  the  environ- 
ment in  which  Mohammed  received  his  revela- 
tion.   The  Moslems'  conception  of  God,  their  be- 


CHILDREN  FROM  EAST  ARABIA 
The  son  and  nephew  of  Abdul  Aziz  bin  Saood,  the  ruler  of  Nejd. 


ENVIRONMENT  45 

lief  in  jinn,  their  fast  of  Ramadhan,  the  fierce- 
ness of  their  fanaticism,  and  the  graciousness  of 
their  hospitality,  all  bear  traces  of  nomad  life. 
**  There  is  the  determination  of  the  starving  in 
all  desert  life;  the  first  law  of  the  desert  is  the 
law  of  endurance  and  abstinence/'  Speaking  of 
the  endurance  of  heat  and  cold  and  fatigue 
among  the  nomads  who  inhabit  the  salt  desert 
of  Lop  in  Central  Asia,  Ellsworth  Huntington 
writes : 

*  *  Such  intensity  is  often  supposed  to  be  a  result 
of  Mohammedan  fanaticism  and  fatalism.  More 
probably  it  is  the  result  of  life  in  the  desert. 
There  none  succeed  except  those  who,  though  often 
lazy  and  dilatory,  are  capable  at  times  of  becom- 
ing almost  monomaniacs,  fanatics,  animated  by 
the  will  to  do  some  deed  in  spite  of  heaven  or 
hell." 

The  Moslem  children  who  live  in  Persia,  Af- 
ghanistan, Arabia,  Northern  India,  Tibet,  Chi- 
nese Turkestan,  and  Asiatic  Russia,  as  well  as 
those  of  Tripoli,  Tunis,  and  the  great  Sahara 
region,  are  born  and  brought  up  in  this  nomad 
environment.  *^The  people,''  as  Huntington 
remarks,  **are  varied,  the  fierce  Afghan  being  as 
different  from  the  sycophant  Persian,  as  is  the 
truculent  Mongol  from  the  mild  chanto  of  Chinese 
Turkestan.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  not  only  the 
physical  features  of  the  country,  but  the  habits 


46     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  character  of  its  inhabitants,  possess  a  dis- 
tinct unity;  for  all  alike  bear  the  impress  of  an 
arid  climate;"  and,  we  may  add,  the  impress  of 
an  arid  religion — Islam. 

Two  main  types  of  civilization  are  found  in 
these  countries:  the  nomad  life  of  a  scattered 
and  sparse  population;  and  intensive  agriculture 
in  irrigated  oases,  which  have  become  centres  of 
population  and  where  we  find  small  cities.  Our 
illustrations  of  the  Bedouin  children  in  Arabia, 
and  of  the  naked  lads  sporting  in  the  sand, 
are  typical.  The  description  given  by  Rev.  A.  D. 
Dixey  of  conditions  in  Baluchistan  applies  equally 
to  Arabia  and  Southern  Persia : 

**The  vast  majority  of  these  people  are  nomadic 
in  their  habit,  wandering  from  plain  to  mountain 
or  vice  versa,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year. 
During  the  winter  their  goat's-hair  tents  or  grass 
huts  are  to  be  seen  everywhere  where  water  exists. 
Their  wealth  consists  in  land,  camels,  goats,  sheep, 
donkeys,  horses,  and  occasionally  a  few  oxen. 
During  the  seasons  of  their  migration  it  is  an 
interesting  sight  to  see  the  Bolan  Pass.  The  whole 
pass  is  filled  with  one  continual  procession  of 
Brahuis,  their  families,  their  flocks  and  herds. 
Here  may  be  seen  a  loaded  camel  with  a  woman 
and  one  or  two  children  seated  on  top,  while  sev- 
eral fowls,  tied  with  pieces  of  string  to  different 
loads,  are  flapping  their  wings  and  endeavouring 


ENVIRONMENT  47 

to  find  some  secure  foothold.  Then  perhaps  there 
may  be  a  donkey  with  a  load  of  eight  or  nine  kids 
or  lambs,  whose  heads  protrude  from  the  saddle- 
bags which  hang  on  either  side ;  while  around  are 
men,  women,  children  of  all  ages  leading  camels, 
driving  flocks,  running  after  donkeys  that  wander 
from  the  path.  Their  possessions  are  of  the  sim- 
plest description.  A  blanket  made  of  goat's  hair, 
supported  by  three  bent  sticks,  forms  their  tent ;  a 
pile  of  quilts  serves  for  their  bedding ;  these,  with 
a  few  native  rugs  on  which  to  sit  or  entertain  a 
guest,  several  cooking-pots,  a  mill  to  grind  corn, 
a  sword  and  perhaps  a  gun  and  one  or  two  little 
things,  include  all  their  worldly  goods." 

Under  such  circumstances  one  can  well  under- 
stand that  the  vast  majority  of  the  women  and 
children  are  illiterate,  that  ignorance  and  super- 
stition prevail,  and  that  physically  only  the  fittest 
can  endure  hardship  and  survive.  In  no  part  of 
the  world  does  the  newborn  child  meet  less 
preparation  for  its  reception  than  among  the 
Bedouin.  A  goat's-hair  tent  offers  no  luxuries, 
and  the  mother  is  so  burdened  with  cares  that  she 
has  little  time  to  spend  on  her  offspring.  Cyril 
Crossland  gives  a  picture  of  the  daily  life  of  the 
women  of  the  Red  Sea  coast.  It  is  the  same 
weary  round  and  common  task  of  the  nomad 
women  everywhere: 

**  Besides  cooking  and  the  care  of  children  and 


48     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

animals  the  women  have  certain  manufactures. 
The  palm-leaf  matting  for  the  outer  covering  of 
the  tents  and  houses  is  bought  ready  made,  but 
the  inner  coarse  blanket  material  is  woven  at  home 
from  the  hair  of  the  owner's  goats,  which  is  col- 
lected and  spun  into  coarse  thread  as  it  becomes 
available.  The  spinning  is  entirely  by  hand,  the 
thread  being  merely  wound  on  a  dangling  stick 
which  is  kept  spinning  by  hand.  When  a  dozen 
or  so  large  balls  of  this  grey-black  and  brown 
thread  have  accumulated,  a  rough  weaving  frame 
of  three  sticks  is  pegged  out  on  the  sand,  and 
weaving  goes  on  for  some  days. ' ' 

What  is  true  of  the  nomad  population  is  true 
of  the  masses  in  the  villages  and  cities  as  far  as 
regards  home  comforts.  Most  of  the  village 
dwellings  are  only  lighted  by  holes  in  the  wall, 
bedsteads  and  cooking  utensils  constituting 
nearly  all  the  furniture.  A  typical  village  along 
the  Nile  or  the  Tigris,  in  the  midst  of  palm  groves 
and  green  fields,  is  very  picturesque  on  a  photo- 
graph, but  on  nearer  approach  it  does  not  have 
much  of  the  atmosphere  of  home.  Untidiness, 
squalor,  and  vermin  are  everywhere.  Privacy 
is  impossible.  The  children  huddle  together, 
when  the  weather  is  cold,  in  the  dismal  interiors, 
or  else  sit  on  the  bare  ground  listlessly,  while 
flies  swarm  over  their  faces ;  or  they  may  be  seen 
busily  engaged  collecting  cow  and  camel  dung  in 


ENVIRONMENT  49 

baskets,  which  they  take  home  to  be  made  into 
flat  cakes  and  stuck  along  the  house  walls  or 
upon  the  roof  to  dry  for  winter  fuel. 

The  environment  of  Moslem  childhood  bears 
the  same  stamp  of  degradation  even  in  lands  that 
are  more  highly  favoured.  A  newspaper  corre- 
spondent, after  three  months'  sojourn  in  Algiers, 
says  that  this  land  is  in  parts  as  beautiful  as  a 
garden  of  Eden,  but  everywhere  shows  tokens  of 
the  blight  of  Islam. 

**  A  few  days  ago  we  walked  through  the  Kasbah 
in  Algiers.  The  Kasbah  is  that  part  of  the  city 
where  the  Arabs  live.  It  was  an  experience  to 
make  one's  heart  sad.  The  Kasbah  has  been 
called  a  human  rabbit-warren.  The  streets  are  so 
narrow  that,  in  many  places,  one  might  stand  in 
the  middle  and  touch  the  walls  on  either  side. 
Here  the  natives  live  and  work  and  trade.  Food- 
stuffs— the  very  sight  of  which  was  nauseating — 
were  on  sale  in  alleys,  where  the  smells  proclaimed 
the  deadly  pollution  of  the  atmosphere.  Dark  pas- 
sages, narrow  stairways,  and  doors  in  unex- 
pected places  suggested  a  labyrinth  as  intricate, 
dangerous,  and  mysterious  as  the  Catacombs. 
The  people  who  haunted  these  abodes,  mostly 
shrouded  in  white,  were  silent  and  sad  as  though 
they  might  be  corpses  wandering  from  their 
tombs." 

Word  for  word  this  description  would  apply 


50     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  life  in  Baghdad  or  Yarkand,  Moslem  Delhi  or 
Kerman. 

One  distinction  stands  out  clearly  between  the 
town  dwellers  of  the  heat  belt  and  the  nomads 
in  this  connection — ^namely,  the  greater  seclusion 
of  women  in  the  former  case.  Ellsworth  Hunt- 
ington draws  the  contrast  so  clearly  that  we  take 
the  liberty  of  quoting  two  paragraphs  on  the  sub- 
ject from  his  book  **The  Pulse  of  Asia'': 

**  Mohammedanism,  as  every  one  knows,  incul- 
cates the  seclusion  of  woman,  and  makes  of  her 
nothing  but  a  stupid  drudge  to  do  man's  work,  or 
a  light  plaything  for  his  pleasure.  Wherever  peo- 
ple of  Moslem  faith  gather  in  towns  and  cities, 
as  I  have  seen  them  in  Turkey,  India,  Persia, 
Asiatic  Russia,  and  Chinese  Turkestan,  his  ideal 
prevails.  In  the  crowded  villages  and  cities 
women  can  do  their  work  behind  high  mud  walls, 
and  can  be  confined  to  certain  unseen  rooms  when 
male  guests  visit  the  house.  The  support  of  the 
family  does  not  depend  upon  them,  and  their 
activities  are  almost  wholly  dependent  on  the  will 
of  their  husbands.  It  is  but  rarely  necessary  that 
they  should  leave  the  house,  and  when  they  do, 
there  is  usually  no  work  to  be  done  and  it  is  easy 
to  keep  their  faces  covered.  Even  the  peasant 
women,  who  must  work  in  the  fields,  keep  aloof, 
and  come  in  contact  with  men  but  little.  Only 
the  very  poor,  or  those  who  are  confessedly  im- 


ENVIRONMENT  51 

moral,  go  about  in  public  with  uncovered  faces. 
The  evil  effect  of  all  this  has  been  often  described, 
and  needs  no  comment. ' ' 

He  then  goes  on  to  show  how  the  case  is  wholly 
different  among  nomads,  and  that  the  contrast  of 
woman's  position  among  nomadic  Mohammedan 
populations  is  due  not  to  racial  differences  but  to 
the  liberties  of  the  nomad  social  system  from  be- 
fore the  days  of  Islam: 

**The  house  of  a  nomad  must  of  necessity  be 
small,  and  cannot  contain  two  rooms,  save  under 
the  most  exceptional  circumstances.  A  visitor 
must  enter  the  room  where  the  women  are  at  work, 
or  else  the  women  must  work  outside ;  and  there, 
of  course,  they  cannot  be  prevented  from  being 
seen  by  men  other  than  those  of  their  families. 
Then,  again,  at  the  time  of  migrations  there  are 
no  shelters  left  standing,  and  the  women  cannot 
possibly  be  kept  concealed.  .  .  .  The  nomad 
woman  must  work  in  semi-publicity,  and  cannot 
be  bothered  with  a  troublesome  veil.  Her  free- 
dom from  seclusion  does  much,  both  morally  and 
mentally,  to  elevate  her  above  her  less  fortunate 
sisters  of  the  villages." 

A  picture  of  Persian  village  life  was  given  by 
a  girl  of  twelve,  bom  and  brought  up  in  such  en- 
vironment. She  was  asked  by  a  missionary, 
**How  old  are  you?'*  ** Forty,  who  knows T' 
**Can  you  readT'     With  a  laugh  she  replied, 


52     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

** Girls  can't  read.''  And  when  the  same  ques- 
tion was  asked  of  a  woman  who  stood  by,  she 
said :  *  ^  This  is  our  life :  to  beat  the  clothes  on  the 
rocks  in  the  river ;  to  mould  cakes  of  manure ;  to 
carry  heavy  loads;  to  spin,  sew,  weave,  bake, 
make  cheese;  bear  children;  grow  old  and  tooth- 
less ;  and  for  all  this  we  get  only  blows  and  abuse, 
and  live  in  constant  fear  of  divorce.  Have  we 
time  to  read?" 

The  present  decay  of  the  Moslem  world  is  at- 
tributed by  many  to  the  rule  of  the  Turks;  but 
Islam  has  had  other  rulers  and  the  results  have 
been  sadly  similar.  The  Arabs,  the  Persians,  and 
the  Mongols  introduced  epochs  of  civilization  in 
Egypt,  Morocco,  and  Spain.  They  achieved  great 
things  in  architecture  and  literature.  In  this 
respect  the  Turks  have  done  little  or  nothing,  but 
the  result  of  the  Mongolian  civilization  in  India, 
that  of  the  Arabs  in  Egypt  and  Morocco,  and  of 
the  Persians  in  their  own  land,  have  been  equally 
unsatisfactory  socially.  Dr.  Richter,  in  sum- 
ming up  the  causes  of  decay  in  Islam,  puts  the 
chief  emphasis  on  the  moral  deterioration  due  to 
polygamy  and  low  ideals  of  home  life.  He  says : 
'*  Sound  family  life  is  impossible.  The  children 
grow  up  in  the  poisonous  atmosphere  of  intrigue, 
fleshly  lust,  bad  language,  and  shameless  licen- 
tiousness. They  are  polluted  from  youth 
up." 


CO  a> 
CO   c 


^4 


ENVIRONMENT  53 

Nor  is  it  fair  to  attribute  all  these  social  condi- 
tions and  this  backward  civilization  to  the  influ- 
ence of  climate  and  the  heat  belt.  Although  there 
is  much  truth  in  what  Professor  Margoliouth  has 
stated,  the  fact  remains  that  Islam  has  extended 
far  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  heat  belt,  and 
has,  outside  of  this  area,  a  population  of  no  less 
than  66,000,000.  Yet  in  the  vales  of  Kashmir,  a 
paradise  of  natural  beauty,  in  European  Turkey, 
in  the  fertile  stretches  of  Bengal  and  the  Punjab, 
and  in  China,  the  social  and  moral  environment 
of  Moslem  children  is  not  greatly  different.  The 
contrast  between  the  Moslem  and  the  Christian 
quarters  of  Constantinople  is  evident,  as  a  Mo- 
hammedan pointed  out  to  Dr.  Dwight.  Looking 
down  on  the  great  metropolis,  he  said: 

**The  greatness  and  the  beauty  of  this  city 
makes  us  all  proud.  But  when  one  looks  upon  it 
from  this  height  one  sees  a  strange  contrast  be- 
tween its  different  quarters.  Here,  extending  far 
away  to  the  city  wall,  and  there,  and  there,  and 
there,  are  great  masses  of  dark-coloured,  ragged- 
looking  wooden  houses.  Surrounded  by  the  dark 
masses,  and  especially  beyond  the  Golden  Horn, 
in  Pera  and  Galata,  are  smaller  groups  of  large, 
well-kept,  and  trim  light-coloured  houses,  often 
of  stone  or  brick.  The  contrast  makes  me  as  a 
Mohammedan  both  puzzled  and  pained,  for  the 
dingy  ragged  masses  of  houses  mark  the  Moham- 


64     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

medan  quarters  of  the  city,  but  the  bright-looking 
groups  are  the  houses  of  the  Christians.  Why  do 
my  people  seem  less  capable  than  these  others?'' 

Concerning  the  effect  of  Islam  in  elevating  the 
pagan  races  of  Africa  and  thus  improving  the 
environment  of  childhood,  there  is  conflicting 
testimony.  As  far  as  the  externals  of  civilization 
are  concerned,  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  that 
Islam  lifts  the  pagan  races  somewhat  higher,  but 
whether  this  is  true  of  their  moral  and  social  life 
is  a  disputed  point.  The  testimony  is  well 
summed  up  by  Captain  Orr  of  Northern  Nigeria : 

'^Even  if  it  be  true  that  Islam  lays  a  dead  hand 
on  a  people  who  have  reached  a  certain  standard 
of  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  its  quicken- 
ing influence  on  African  races  in  a  backward  state 
of  evolution.  Amongst  the  pagan  tribes  of  North- 
ern Nigeria  it  is  making  its  converts  every  day, 
sweeping  away  drunkenness,  cannibalism,  and 
fetishism;  mosques  and  markets  spring  into  ex- 
istence, and  the  pagan  loses  his  exclusiveness,  and 
learns  to  mingle  with  his  fellow-men.  To  the 
negro  Islam  is  not  sterile  or  lifeless.  The  dead 
hand  is  not  for  him. 

**Not  that  the  spread  of  Islam  among  pagan 
tribes  is  wholly  beneficial.  Its  appeal  to  his  sen- 
sual nature  is  not  without  its  effect.  The  very 
civilization  which  Islam  brings,  teaches  its  vices 
as  well  as  its  virtues.    But  when  the  balance  is 


A  BEGGAR  BOY  FROM  ALGIERS 
At    a    barred  window.     Who  will  unbar  the  gates  of  his  soul? 


ENVIRONMENT  55 

struck  between  Islamism  and  paganism,  there  can 
be  but  little  doubt  which  of  the  scales  weighs  the 
heavier.  * ' 

Dr.  Frederick  Starr,  professor  of  Anthropol- 
ogy in  Chicago  University,  however,  who  has 
travelled  in  several  West  African  countries,  testi- 
fies to  the  fact  that  he  never  saw  a  Mohammedan 
town  that  was  better  than  a  pagan  town,  and  that 
the  apparent  superiority  of  certain  tribes  who 
have  embraced  Islam  is  due  to  racial  qualities 
rather  than  to  the  religion  adopted.  And  his 
testimony  is  corroborated  by  that  of  the  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of  French  Dahomey,  who  stated 
that  **  Islam  has  not  introduced  any  new  industry, 
nor  contributed  to  the  development  of  natural 
resources"  in  that  part  of  Africa. 

Whatever  economic  advantages  the  advent  of 
Islam  may  bring,  and  however  great  the  contrast 
between  the  civilization  of  Baluchistan  and 
Turkey  or  China  and  Morocco  or  Kashmir  and 
Arabia,  the  social  life  of  Islam,  its  intellectual 
backwardness,  and  its  moral  corruption  are  so 
much  alike  that  we  can  only  conclude  that  these 
conditions  obtain  not  in  spite  of,  but  because  of 
the  religion  of  the  people.  The  law  of  cause  and 
effect  has  operated  for  over  a  thousand  years 
under  every  possible  natural  and  political  en- 
vironment, among  Semites,  negroes,  Mongolians, 
Aryans,  and  Slavs;  yet  the  results  are  similar, 


56     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  are  an  unanswerable  indictment  of  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 

In  China,  for  example,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Moslem  women  occupy  a  better  place  than 
their  sisters  in  lands  where  Islam  is  supreme. 
Here  they  are  not  veiled  nor  isolated  by  the 
harem  life.  There  is  a  greater  interest  in  the 
education  of  girls,  and  separate  mosques  for 
women  exist.  Yet  even  here,  we  are  told,  the  line 
of  demarcation  between  Moslem  and  non-Moslem 
is  as  great  as  between  Chinese  and  foreigners ;  and 
one  who  has  spent  years  in  China,  especially 
among  the  Mohammedans,  writes  that  she  has  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  the  social  and  moral  con- 
dition of  Moslem  women  is  *4nfinitely  sadder 
than  that  of  the  heathen  Chinese  women. ' '  ^ 
That  socially  and  ethically  Islam  is  not  an  ad- 
vance on  Confucianism  is  generally  admitted. 
Martin  Hartmann,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  article 
on  ** China '^  in  the  ** Encyclopedia  of  Islam,"  ex- 
presses the  hope  that  this  religion  will  not  continue 
to  spread,  for  *4t  is  not  a  religion  compatible  with 
civilization,  and  is  emphatically  the  bitter  enemy 
of  culture." 

Java  affords  another  instance  where  national 
custom  has  modified  Moslem  teaching.  The 
moral  and  material  position  of  women  among  the 

* "  Mohammedan    Women    of    China."      By    Mrs.    Soderstrom. 
{Chinese  Recorder,  February,  1913.) 


ENVIRONMENT  57 

Malays  has  always  been  a  high  one,  because  the 
matriarehate,  with  all  its  consequences,  has  been 
at  its  foundation.  Although  Islam  permits  polyg- 
amy, the  Javanese  therefore  leave  the  practice 
to  the  wealthy  and  eminent.  Seclusion  is  also  un- 
known. **In  spite  of  Islam,''  says  Cabaton,  *^the 
Javanese  woman  goes  abroad  unveiled,  shares 
the  interests  of  her  husband,  has  her  place  at 
festivals,  and  speaks  freely  at  home.  Both  hus- 
band and  wife,  moreover,  so  continually  work  side 
by  side  that  this  community  of  labour  strengthens 
the  position  of  the  Javanese  woman,  although 
this  does  not  equal  that  of  her  European  sisters." 
Polygamy  in  Java  may  be  rare  among  Moslems, 
but  divorce  and  the  exchange  of  wives  are  fear- 
fully common.  One  of  our  correspondents  re- 
marks that  even  here  *Hhe  fatalism  taught  by 
Islam  places  the  woman  in  a  servile  relationship. 
She  is  considered  a  creature  of  no  particular 
value." 

The  condition  of  women  under  Islam  is  every- 
where the  same  in  respect  to  the  institution  of 
marriage,  and  in  consequence,  as  regards  her  so- 
cial position.  There  is  no  hope  of  effectually 
remedying  the  home  life  in  the  world  of  Islam 
save  by  the  elevation  of  its  motherhood.  Moslems 
themselves  admit  this  evil  in  their  system.  H.  H. 
the  Aga  Khan,  spoke  of  this  as  the  greatest  bar- 
rier to  progress  because  *Hhe  seclusion  of  women 


58     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

results  in  keeping  half  of  the  community  in  ig- 
norance and  degradation;"  and  Mansur  Fahmy, 
an  educated  Egyptian,  has  shown,  in  a  recent 
critical  study  ^  on  the  condition  of  women,  that 
her  position  under  Islam  has  gradually  deterio- 
rated. He  proves  this  from  Mohammedan  litera- 
ture and  from  the  Koran  itself.  In  Arabia, 
before  Islam,  her  status  was  higher,  and  the  veil 
did  not  exist  before  the  time  of  the  Prophet.  The 
successive  stages  in  what  the  author  calls  the 
degradation  of  womanhood  are  traced  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  caliphs  and  of  the  later  dynasties.  He 
also  gives  an  excellent  summary  of  the  low  posi- 
tion of  woman  in  Moslem  law,  owing  to  polygamy 
and  divorce.  Her  incapacity  is  emphasized  by  the 
fact  that  both  as  a  witness  and  in  the  inheritance 
of  property  her  sex  is  counted  against  her.  And 
because  this  is  all  based  upon  the  Koran  and  the 
official  teaching  of  Islam,  it  has  had  its  effect  in 
every  land  and  among  all  nations.  The  Moslem 
type  of  civilization  can  be  recognized  everywhere 
in  the  place  assigned  womanhood,  and  by  the  re- 
sults of  such  social  teaching  upon  childhood.  So 
true  is  this  that  when  one  reads  a  standard  book 
on  the  manners  and  customs  of  modern  Egyp- 
tians, like  that  of  Lane,  he  has  in  reality  a  pic- 
ture of  Moslem  home  life  not  only  in  Egypt,  but 

*  "  La  Condition  de  la  Femme  dans  la  Tradition  et  I'fivolution 
de  rislamisme."    Paris,  1913, 


HHI^HHHIBlHHIiHI^BB'^ 

UK  ^p 

^^^^^H 

ENVIRONMENT  59 

in  Morocco,  North  India,  and  Central  Asia.  The 
outstanding  features  and  fundamental  lines  in 
the  picture  are  the  same;  the  only  difference  is 
that  of  local  colour  and  in  matters  that  are  sec- 
ondary. When  Edward  Westermarck,  there- 
fore, wrote  his  great  work  on  the  *^  Marriage 
Ceremonies  in  Morocco,^'  he  practically  gave  a 
history  of  Moslem  marriage  throughout  the 
world,  citing  parallel  cases  among  Moslems  in 
other  lands. 

The  testimony  of  missionaries  from  Northern 
Nigeria  is  that  the  degradation  of  womanhood 
followed  the  introduction  of  Islam,  and  that  she 
has  a  distinctly  lower  place  in  the  Mohammedan 
community  than  she  occupies  among  pagans. 
Gottfried  Simon  gives  the  same  testimony  in  re- 
gard to  Malaysia,  stating  that  **the  position  of 
Moslem  women  is  lower  than  that  of  her  heathen 
sisters.  Divorce  and  polygamy  are  rare  in  heathen 
districts ;  in  purely  Mohammedan  districts,  on  the 
other  hand,  divorce  is  the  order  of  the  day.  Mo- 
hammedan family  life  is  often  below  the  level  of 
that  of  the  heathen.  .  .  .  Disorderly  conduct 
among  the  young  people  marks  the  arrival  of 
Islam  in  the  country. '^ 

A  threefold  burden  rests,  as  an  inheritance  of 
ill,  upon  childhood  throughout  the  Moslem  world, 
namely,  the  evil  effects  of  child  marriage,  super- 
stitious medical  practices,  and  fatalism  in  the  care 


60     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  infants.  One  may  trace  the  effect  of  these 
customs  and  beliefs,  all  based  on  Islam,  in  the 
physical  and  moral  condition  of  Moslem  child- 
hood, and  find  it  the  same,  whether  in  Persia  or 
the  Philippines,  Manchuria  or  Morocco,  Bulgaria 
or  Bokhara,  Cape  Town  or  Calcutta.  Heredity 
and  environment  have  here  produced  similar 
effects.  In  a  symposium  on  Islam  from  a  medical 
standpoint,  physicians  from  Kashmir,  Mombasa, 
Baluchistan,  Palestine,  Arabia,  Morocco,  Ni- 
geria, and  Turkey  were  united  in  their  testimony 
that  ignorance,  fatalism,  and  superstition  darken 
the  lives  of  Moslem  women  and  children,  blunt- 
ing the  child's  finer  feelings  and  handicapping 
him  at  the  outset  by  insanitary  conditions,  dirt, 
and  neglect.  In  the  treatment  of  women  before 
and  after  childbirth  there  is  often  actual  cruelty, 
with  its  consequent  results  on  the  life  of  the  child. 
Child  marriage  is  specially  spoken  of ;  not  the 
marriage  of  children  one  to  another,  but  the  mar- 
riage of  little  girls  to  men  many  years  their 
seniors.  * '  The  saddest  cases, ' '  writes  Dr.  Brig- 
stocke  of  Palestine,  **are  those  of  little  girls 
who  ought  to  be  enjoying  games  and  school  life, 
seriously  injured,  if  not  maimed  for  life,  as  a  re- 
sult of  this  horrible  practice.''  (For  sad  details 
on  this  part  of  the  subject,  see  The  Moslem 
World,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  367-385.) 

We  must  remember  in  this  connection  that  Mos- 


ENVIRONMENT  61 

lem  practice  in  regard  to  childbirth  and  marriage 
is  based  upon  Mohammed's  example  and  Table 
Talk  on  the  subject.  This  is  found  both  in  the 
Koran  and  in  the  Traditions.  Mohammed's 
knowledge  of  medicine  and  hygiene,  not  to  speak 
of  embryology,  was  largely  due  to  one  of  his 
friends,  El  Harith  bin  Kalida,  who  might  be 
called  Mohammed's  Luke.  The  ideas  promul- 
gated in  the  Koran  have  been  fixed  forever  be- 
cause it  is  a  divine  revelation.  This  is  especially 
true  of  those  passages  which  contain  his  unscien- 
tific statements  concerning  conception,  birth, 
weaning,  etc.  The  last  is  postponed,  according  to 
Mohammed's  revelation,  for  two  years  (Surah 
2:233)!  We  find  curious  instances  of  errors  in 
anatomy,  such  as  the  connection  between  the  heart 
and  the  windpipe  (Surah  56:82),  and  the  compo- 
sition of  milk  and  blood  (Surah  16 :  68).  Both  the 
practice  of  astrology  and  the  using  of  charms  for 
the  evil  eye  found  their  foundation  in  the  Koran, 
and  superstitious  efficacy  is  ascribed  to  honey  as 
a  panacea  (Surah  16:71).  Although  the  legisla- 
tion as  regards  clothing,  sleep,  the  bath,  and  food 
are  generally  hygienic,  and  we  can  specially 
recommend  the  prohibition  of  alcohol,  the  fatal- 
istic teaching  of  Islam  as  regards  epidemics  is 
well  known.  Dr.  Opitz  ^  shows  that  the  whole 
Moslem  system,  as  based  upon  the  practice  and 

^  Dr.  Karl  Opitz.     "  Die  Medizin  im  Koran."    Stuttgart,  1906. 


6a     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

teaching  of  the  Prophet,  is  utterly  opposed  to 
eugenics,  and  that  the  position  assigned  to 
womanhood  has  had  its  terrible  effects  upon  Mo- 
hammedan peoples  everywhere. 

Fatalism  has  much  to  do  with  the  enormous 
death  rate  of  children  in  Moslem  lands  during 
epidemics  of  contagious  diseases.  There  is  no 
segregation ;  no  attempt  to  prevent  children  with 
a  light  attack  of  smallpox  from  mingling  freely 
with  healthy  children.  **  Those  whom  God  in- 
tends to  live  will  live;  those  whom  He  means  to 
die  will  die.    What  difference  does  it  makeT' 

It  is  true  that  civilization  and  modern  education 
have  modified  these  conditions  among  the  en- 
lightened class,  but  they  form  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  masses ;  and  as  regards  the  moral 
welfare  of  a  child  brought  up  in  such  an  environ- 
ment as  we  have  sketched,  it  is  also  true,  as  Cap- 
tain Wyman  Bury  has  pointed  out,  that  *Hhe 
curse  is  double-edged  and  cuts  both  ways:  Islam 
degenerates  under  civilized  conditions,  and  civili- 
zation becomes  slack  and  inert  in  conjunction  with 
Islam,  within  the  four  corners  of  which  all  Mos- 
lem art  and  science  and  literature  has  to  keep.^' 
Generally  speaking,  the  immoral  atmosphere  and 
the  environment  in  which  Moslem  children  are 
born  and  brought  up,  is  one  that  makes  pure  child- 
hood well-nigh  impossible.  Missionaries  and 
others  who  have  lived  long  in  Moslem  lands  feel 


MOSLEM  CHILDREN  FROM   CAPE  TOWN 

1.  Soldier's  child  given  to  Mohammedans. 

2.  A  little  girl  of  English  and  Greek  parents,  being  brought  up  as 

a  Mohammedan. 

3.  Child   of    native    Christian    mother,   turned   Moslem    and   now 

married  to  an  Indian  Mohammedan. 

4.  Two  children  whose  mother  became  a  Mohammedan. 


ENVIRONMENT  63 

this  environment  as  a  real  thing,  although  it  may- 
be indefinable,  and  have  a  desire  to  escape  its  in- 
fluence ;  or  at  least  to  remove  their  children  from 
it  at  as  early  an  age  as  possible/  There  have 
even  been  instances  of  adult  Europeans  who  have 
been  drawn  down  in  the  vortex  of  a  Moslem  en- 
vironment to  their  own  destruction;  and  the 
present  methods  of  Moslem  propagandism  in 
Cape  Town,  where  children,  both  white  and 
coloured,  are  taken  over  by  the  Mohammedans 
and  early  given  in  marriage  to  the  believers,  bind 
them  irrevocably  to  Islam.^  What  can  be  sadder 
than  this  lot  for  a  Christian  child! 

One  word  more  should  be  added  at  the  close  of 
this  chapter  in  regard  to  the  heritage  of  girlhood 
as  a  result  of  Islam.  Because  of  early  marriage 
she  has  no  real  childhood ;  she  looks  forward  with 
fear  and  dread  to  marriage  with  a  man  whom  she 
may  never  have  seen ;  she  is  early  trained  in  all 
those  ways  of  deceit  which  are  the  protection  of 
the  weak  and  helpless  against  strength  and  au- 
thority, and  jealousy  is  one  of  her  ruling  passions. 
Unwelcome  at  birth,  always  considered  inferior 
to  her  brothers  and  father  and  husband,  and  sur- 
rounded by  so  much  in  this  religion  that  means 

*  "  The  Influence  of  a  Mohammedan  Environment  on  the  Mis- 
sionary."    W.  A.  Shedd  in  The  Moslem  World,  Vol.  III. 

=*  "  The  Moslem  Menace  in  South  Africa."  Missionary  Review 
of  the  World,  October,  1914.  See  also  the  recent  novel  on  this 
topic,  "The  Lure  of  Islam."     By  C.  Prowse,  London,  1914. 


64.     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

degradation  and  humiliation,  who  can  blame  her 
if  she  is  not  happy!  One  of  the  leading  Moslem 
papers  in  Cairo,  El  Mueyyard  (August  15,  1911), 
contained  an  article  by  a  Moslem  writer  on  the 
conditions  of  home  life  in  Egypt,  and  appealing 
for  reform.  He  spoke  of  rescuing  one  of  these 
child  wives  who  was  dying  on  account  of  cruel 
treatment.  As  we  read  the  sad  story,  let  us  re- 
member that  it  was  told  for  Moslem  ears  by  Mos- 
lem lips.    Her  story  was  as  follows : 

**Some  years  ago  my  father  married  me  to  a 
much-married,  much-divorced  man,  who  was  sel- 
dom satisfied  with  a  woman  for  more  than  a  year. 
If  a  girl  had  ever  been  allowed  to  choose  for  her- 
self, then  I  would  have  made  a  better  choice  than 
that.  However,  I  had  to  obey,  so  I  was  taken  to 
this  man,  who  gave  me  the  best  possible  reception 
at  first;  in  fact,  his  reception  to  me  was  like  the 
smile  of  a  lion  over  its  prey,  and  I  lived  in  daily 
fear  of  separation  just  as  any  murderer  fears  his 
day  of  penalty. 

**I  was  scarcely  over  my  confinement  when  I 
heard  that  he  had  married  some  one  else,  so  my 
position  in  the  house  was  that  of  utter  loneliness. 
I  had  no  friends  but  my  tiny  babe,  although  after 
the  first  shock  I  submitted  to  it  as  my  decreed 
destiny.  I  carried  my  babe  to  my  father's  house 
and  found  him  sick  unto  death,  so  I  was  left  com- 
pletely alone.    I  begged  every  one  I  knew  to  write 


ENVIRONMENT  65 

to  that  man  to  ask  for  bread  for  his  own  babe, 
or  else  to  release  me  that  I  might  find  some  one 
more  merciful,  but  he  was  too  miserly  for  the  first, 
and  professed  himself  shocked  at  the  latter.  For 
a  few  years  I  worked  day  and  night  at  the  poison- 
ous sewing  to  get  barely  enough  to  keep  me  alive. 
Then  I  fell  ill,  and  everything  I  possessed,  even 
in  the  way  of  clothing,  went  for  my  medicine. 
The  worst  of  all  was  when  I  wrote  to  the  father 
of  my  child,  begging  for  food.  I  waited  and 
waited,  lying  here  counting  up  all  his  sins  and 
crimes,  until  one  day  when  I  was  looking  at 
my  child's  face  and  getting  from  it  a  little  com- 
fort, that  brutal  tyrant  rushed  upon  me  and 
snatched  the  child  out  of  my  arms.  There  was  no 
one  near  to  hear  my  cries,  and  I  spent  those  nights 
in  utter  despair,  for  I  had  been  afflicted  in  hus- 
band, father,  and  child,  finding  no  one  to  stretch 
out  a  helping  hand  nor  even  a  pitying  eye  to  me. 
More  than  twenty  wretched  nights  passed  and  I 
lay  ill,  dreaming  that  I  saw  my  little  babe  being 
beaten  by  its  cruel  father  at  home  and  I  here 
unable  to  rescue  it.  And  now  I  feel  the  darkness 
of  death  is  creeping  over  my  sight,  and  I  am  de- 
parting from  this  world,  without  seeing  my  baby 
for  a  single  glance  to  carry  with  me  in  my  jour- 
ney to  the  other  world. ' ' 

Under  such  conditions  as  have  been  described  in 
this  chapter  these  millions  of  children  live — and 


66     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

die.  Our  task  is  not  to  save  a  few  of  them  from 
their  fate.  It  is  much  larger;  namely,  to  create 
a  new  environment,  to  purify  the  social  atmos- 
phere, and  to  conquer  and  destroy  in  Christ's 
name  the  forces,  sanctified  by  religion,  that  are 
causing  these  little  souls  to  perish. 

"The  night  lies  dark  upon  the  earth,  and  we  have  light; 
So  many  have  to  grope  their  way,  and  we  have  sight; 
One  path  is  theirs  and  ours,  of  sin  and  care; 
But  we  are  borne  along,  and  they  their  burden  bear. 
Footsore,  heart-weary,  faint  they  on  the  way. 
Mute  in  their  sorrows,  while  we  kneel  and  pray. 
Glad  are  they  of  a  stone  on  which  to  rest. 
While  we  are  pillowed  on  the  Father's  breast." 


Ill 


BIRTH,  INFANCY,  AND  PHYSICAL 
CONDITIONS 


"  Each  for  himself,  we  live  our  lives  apart, 

Heirs  of  an  age  that  turns  us  all  to  stone; 
Yet  ever  Nature,  thrust  from  out  the  heart. 
Comes  back  to  claim  her  own. 

"  Still  we  have  something  left  of  that  fair  seed 

God  gave  for  birthright;  still  the  sound  of  tears 
Hurts  us,  and  children  in  their  helpless  need 
Still  call  to  listening  ears," 

— Owen  Seaman — From  "  In  a  Good  Cause." 

"  Can  we  then  wonder  that  the  child's  entrance  into  life  should 
be  accompanied  by  those  plaintive  cries  so  well  described  by  the 
Latin  poet  Lucretius  ( '  De  Natura  Rerum,'  V :  223 )  :  'A  child 
at  its  birth,  like  a  mariner  cast  ashore  by  the  angry  waves,  lies 
prostrate  on  the  earth,  naked,  speechless,  destitute  of  all  the  aids 
of  existence,  from  the  moment  when  it  reaches  the  shores  of  light, 
torn  from  its  mother's  bosom  by  the  efforts  of  nature;  and  it 
fills  the  place  it  has  entered  with  dismal  wailings.  And  such 
distress  is  but  natural!  There  lies  before  him  to  traverse  a  life 
afflicted  with  bitter  woes.' "— Peeez — "  The  First  Three  Years  of 
Childhood." 


m 


BIRTH,  INFANCY,  AND  PHYSICAL 
CONDITIONS 

FEOM  the  days  of  Plato,  the  right  of  the 
child  to  be  well-born  has  been  a  subject  of 
discussion,  for  the  sake  of  the  general  wel- 
fare of  society.  The  father  of  the  modern  science 
of  eugenics,  Francis  Galton,  wrote  his  classical 
work  on  the  subject,  ^^ Hereditary  Genius,''  in 
1869,  and  defined  eugenics  as  ''the  study  of  agen- 
cies, under  social  control,  which  may  improve  or 
impair  the  racial  qualities  of  future  generations, 
either  physical  or  mental.''  How  far  environ- 
ment and  heredity  affect  the  individual  is  a  ques- 
tion yet  unsettled.  No  one  denies,  however,  the 
immense  influence  of  both  upon  infancy  and  child- 
hood. Charles  Darwin,  for  example,  wrote:  **  If 
we  do  not  prevent  the  reckless,  vicious,  and  other- 
wise inferior  members  of  society  from  increasing 
at  a  quicker  rate  than  the  better  class  of  men,  the 
nation  will  retrograde,  as  has  occurred  too  often 
in  the  history  of  the  world. ' '  If  heredity  and  en- 
vironment have  such  a  determining  influence  in 
civilized  lands,  we  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn 

68 


70     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

that  Moslem  childhood  is  handicapped  by  the  en- 
vironment and  the  conditions  that  obtain  through 
long  heredity  in  the  home  life  and  social  sphere 
already  described. 

The  testimony  from  every  part  of  the  mission 
field  is  a  sad  commentary  on  this  subject.  A 
missionary  writes  from  Constantine,  Algeria: 
**  Physically  the  natives  of  Algeria  are,  with  few 
exceptions,  tainted  with  syphilis.  This  betrays 
itself  physically  in  diseases  of  the  skin  and  blood ; 
morally,  in  a  want  of  energy  and  determination.'* 
Others  in  the  same  country  confirm  this  testi- 
mony. Scrofula  and  consumption  are  hereditary 
among  the  poorer  classes  in  Tripoli,  yet  because 
the  weaklings  all  die  in  babyhood,  the  children 
that  survive  are  physically  strong.  One  who  has 
spent  a  long  time  at  Casablanca,  Morocco,  says: 
**  Immorality  and  frequency  of  divorce,  and  the 
total  lack  of  hygiene  combined  with  superstitious 
practices,  have  sapped  the  brains  and  constitu- 
tions of  quite  eighty  per  cent  of  the  children.''  A 
physician  writing  from  the  same  part  of  the 
world  says  that  at  birth  Moslem  children  compare 
favourably  with  European  children,  but  at  eight 
or  nine  months  they  become  weakly,  through 
hereditary  disease  or  lack  of  care.  The  children 
in  Chinese  Turkestan,  we  are  told,  sujffer  much 
from  hereditary  venereal  diseases.  **  Goitre, 
which  affects  children  physically  and  intellectu- 


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PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  71 

ally,  is  terribly  prevalent  in  Yarkand.  Smallpox 
is  very  virulent,  thousands  of  children  dying  from 
it  every  year.  All  efforts  to  uplift  child  life  are 
completely  counterbalanced  by  bad  influences  in 
their  homes,  where  immorality  and  gambling 
poison  the  atmosphere. ' ' 

To  understand  the  conditions  of  Moslem  child- 
hood, therefore,  it  is  first  of  all  necessary  to 
realize  the  frightful  mortality  among  infants. 
Statistics  collected  on  this  subject,  both  from  gov- 
ernment returns  and  the  careful  investigations  of 
travellers  and  medical  missionaries,  would  be 
well-nigh  incredible  were  not  they  mutually  cor- 
roborative from  every  field  under  investigation. 
Even  allowing  for  possible  over-estimate,  we  find 
that  the  infant  mortality  in  Moslem  lands  is 
placed  at  from  fifty  to  eighty  per  cent. 

To  begin  with  Egypt:  The  statistical  returns 
for  the  Department  of  Public  Health,  1913,  show 
that  over  one-half  of  the  children  horn,  die  before 
they  are  five  years  of  age.  Out  of  a  total  of  75,967 
births,  2,981  were  still-born,  20,586  died  before 
the  end  of  the  first  year,  and  9,210  before  the  end 
of  the  second  year.  There  has  been  severe  criti- 
cism of  the  Egyptian  Government  in  regard  to 
infant  mortality,  but  a  writer  in  the  Egyptian 
Gazette  (March  8,  1913)  shows  that  a  large  part 
of  the  evil  is  due  to  the  treatment  of  the  child  after 
birth.    He  does  not  deal  with  the  causes  that  pre- 


72     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

cede  birth,  and  which  are  also  patent  to  all  those 
who  know  the  cruelties  of  Egyptian  home  life : 

**  There  is  no  danger  to  the  infant  at  the  time 
of  birth.  It  arrives  all  right,  inheriting  its  par- 
ents' healthy  constitution.  It  thrives  quite  well 
as  long  as  it  is  on  the  breast  milk.  Illness  sets  in 
when  other  nutriment  is  given,  or  at  the  weaning 
stage.  Then  anything  to  appease  the  wailings  of 
the  hungry  infant,  in  order  that  the  lazy  and  ig- 
norant mother  may  get  off  duty  and  sleep — sugar 
cane,  cucumber,  anything  indeed  that  is  handy  and 
quiets  the  child  for  the  moment.  Stomach  de- 
rangement naturally  ensues,  followed  speedily  by 
diarrhoea,  developing  often  into  dysentery.  Of 
nursing,  the  Arab  woman  knows  nothing.  The  suf- 
ferer is  allowed  to  wallow  on  a  damp  mud  floor, 
with  no  sign  of  flannel  to  protect  the  abdomen 
from  chill.  When  the  mother's  milk  fails,  cow  or 
rather  buffalo  milk,  which  is  much  too  strong,  is 
substituted,  given  out  of  unclean  vessels,  often 
sour,  and  filthy  from  germs.  Under  these  condi- 
tions disease  is  rapid  and  death  quickly  follows. 
Thousands  of  healthily  born  children  are  sacri- 
ficed to  the  ignorance  and  laziness  of  the  Arab 
mother. ' ' 

The  statistics  given  concerning  infant  mortal- 
ity in  other  lands  are  equally  indicative  of  the 
fatal  environment  which  the  Moslem  child  enters 
at  birth.    In  Palestine  it  is  a  common  thing  for  a 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  73 

man  to  say  he  has  had  twenty-four  children,  of 
whom  only  three  or  four  are  living.  A  writer, 
speaking  of  infant  mortality  in  Marsovan,  says: 
**The  children  die  like  flies.  The  weaklings  all 
perish;  only  the  hardy  have  a  chance  to  survive." 
A  physician  from  Persia  writes:  *^ There  are 
more  childhood  diseases  here  than  in  any  place  of 
which  I  know.  It  is  estimated  that  the  mortality 
is  eighty-five  per  cent.  Another  estimate  states 
that  only  one  child  out  of  ten  reaches  the  age  of 
twenty,  though  this  may  be  rather  an  extreme 
opinion."  The  mortality  of  children  is  specially 
large  in  the  great  cities  of  the  Moslem  world, 
Cairo,  Constantinople,  Bombay,  Calcutta,  and 
others.  In  Indian  cities  the  death  rate  among 
Moslem  children  is  higher  than  among  other 
classes.  The  Health  Officer  of  Calcutta  in  a  re- 
cent report  says : 

**  Attention  has  already  been  drawn  to  the 
heavy  incidence  of  tuberculosis  among  females. 
As  the  females,  particularly  in  an  Oriental  city, 
where  a  large  portion  of  them  are  purdahnashin, 
are  more  constantly  subjected  to  the  influence  of 
their  environment,  the  heavy  incidence  of  tubercle 
among  those  residing  in  insanitary  and  congested 
areas  indicates  very  clearly  the  powerful  influence 
of  these  conditions  on  the  prevalence  of  tubercu- 
losis. Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the 
fact  that  the  zenana,  or  female  apartments,  are 


74     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

usually  shut  in  and  hidden  away  at  the  back  of 
the  house,  and  hence  are  particularly  ill  venti- 
lated. Muhammadans  suffered  more  severely 
than  Hindus  during  1912,  the  difference  being  most 
marked  among  the  females,  owing  to  the  stricter 
observance  of  the  purdah  system  among  the 
poorer  classes.  Of  every  thousand  children  bom 
among  Muhammadans  306  die,  among  Hindus  248, 
and  only  138  among  non- Asiatics.  One  in  ten  of 
the  infants  born  die  in  their  first  week,  and  these 
deaths  are  largely  due  to  preventable  causes,  de- 
bility and  prematurity,  owing  to  early  marriage, 
and  tetanus  owing  to  neglect  or  improper  methods 
of  treatment.  In  other  words,  thirty-three  per 
cent  of  the  deaths  among  infants  under  one 
month  are  preventable.  Such  a  state  of  affairs 
ought  not  to  be  tolerated  in  any  civilized  commu- 
nity. 

**As  their  entrance  into  the  world  is  celebrated 
by  eating  good  things, ' '  Miss  Henrietta  Manasseh 
of  Brumana,  Syria,  writes,  **so  food  forms  a 
very  large  part  of  the  indulgence  afforded 
to  children  as  they  grow  up.  All  sorts  of  indi- 
gestible things  are  given  to  babies.  To  strong 
children  this  seems  to  do  no  special  harm,  but 
with  the  delicate  there  are  often  disastrous  re- 
sults, attributed  naturally  to  evil  spirits.  Many 
a  model  mother  would  shudder  at  the  sight  of  a 
child  of  two  years  munching  a  raw  cucumber  or 


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PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  75 

green  apple  or  apricot  or  a  baby  in  arms  busily 
chewing  brown  bread." 

In  Morocco,  according  to  Budgett  Meakin,  little 
children  suffer  from  ^*f ailing  sickness"  and  in- 
fant mortality  is  exceedingly  high.  He  states  that 
he  has  seen  *' youngsters  hardly  able  to  toddle, 
naked  from  the  waist  down,  sitting  about  in  pud- 
dles on  a  cold  tiled  pavement  of  a  rich  man's 
courtyard."  The  testimony  of  John  G.  Wishard, 
M.D.,  who  spent  twenty  years  in  Persia,  is  that 
lack  of  knowledge  of  ordinary  rules  of  health  ac- 
counts for  the  large  death  roll  among  children. 
'*I  have  seen  children  less  than  six  months  old 
bathed  in  pools  at  the  side  of  the  road  when  the 
thermometer  was  below  the  freezing  point.  In- 
fanticide is  not  very  common  because  of  the  love 
of  the  Persians  for  children,  but  it  does  happen 
not  infrequently  when  the  baby  is  a  girl." 

Mrs.  C.  S.  G.  Mylrea  reports  the  following  in- 
cident from  Kuweit,  Arabia : 

**The  daughter-in-law's  baby  was  not  well.    He 
had  fever  and  a  sore  tongue.    His  mouth,  face, 
and  gown  were  covered  with  crimson  paint,  some- 
thing they  are  very  fond  of  using  for  sores.    I  \ 
asked  if  she  wanted  medicine  for  him.    She  said,  \ 
*If  you  can  give  me  something  for  the  sore  tongue,  1 
all  right.'    But  I  saw  that  they  intended  using    \ 
their  own  remedies,  and  I  heard  a  day  or  two   j 
later  that  they  had  cauterized  Jthe  sore  place  with  i 


76     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

a  piece  of  iron  heated  red  hot.  As  one  goes  in 
and  out  of  the  houses  one  wonders  if  these  people 
will  ever  be  willing  to  admit  that  their  way  is  not 
a  success. 

'*One  afternoon  while  calling  at  a  Seyyid's 
house  (a  direct  descendant  of  Mohammed)  I  no- 
ticed that  the  grandmother  of  the  family,  a  Sey- 
yid,  was  seated  in  the  courtyard  on  a  sort  of  plat- 
form above  us  all.  I  soon  found  out  why.  After 
a  little  while  a  woman  with  sore  eyes  came  in. 
The  Seyyid  was  most  cordial  and  told  her  to  come 
and  sit  on  the  platform  with  her.  Then  she  put 
her  hands  on  the  woman's  head  and  repeated  por- 
tions from  the  Koran  for  about  ten  minutes. 
When  she  had  finished  the  woman  got  up  at  once 
and  went  away.  A  little  later  in  came  a  woman 
with  a  baby  with  fever.  She  was  invited  to  sit 
on  the  platform,  and  the  old  Seyyid  put  her  hand 
on  the  baby  and  repeated  more  verses  from  the 
Koran,  blowing  on  the  child  every  few  seconds. '^ 
And  here  is  an  illustration  of  Islam's  darker  side, 
from  Palestine: 

*'I  want  to  try  and  describe  something  which 
took  place  here  in  Tyre,''  says  Miss  J.  A.  Lord. 
**I  am  afraid  that  it  will  horrify  you  even  as  it 
horrified  me.  And  do  you  know  that  I  think  I 
could  fill  a  whole  Chamber  of  Horrors  if  I  had  the 
chance. 

**Well!  it  was  a  very  hot  day;  the  common 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  77 

which  lies  on  the  sea  front  of  the  house  was  a 
dried-up,  parched,  sunburnt  waste.  A  message 
was  brought  to  me  that  some  women  were  digging 
holes  on  rubbish  heaps  on  this  common,  not  far 
away  from  one  of  the  gates  of  the  compound. 
*And  what  are  the  holes  for?'  I  said.  *To  put 
four  poor  little  babies  in,  and  these  mites  are  all 
sick,  and  each  baby  will  be  placed  up  to  its  neck 
in  the  hole.'  And  just  as  I  was  trying  to  under- 
stand about  this,  another  message  was  brought. 
*Yes,  they  have  put  the  poor  babies  in.'  Can  you 
bear  to  imagine  this?  Four  poor  little  heads — all 
crying,  all  frightened,  buried  in  a  rubbish  heap! 
You  say,  please  tell  us  what  does  this  terrible 
thing  mean?  This  is  a  superstitious  rite  or  cere- 
mony which  can  only  take  place  on  Friday  at 
noon.  The  completion  of  the  rite  is  that  a  loose 
basket  is  placed  over  the  head  of  each  of  the  poor 
babies,  and  as  the  noon  cry  is  called  from  the 
mosque,  the  old  woman  who  conducts  this  cere- 
mony will  strike  the  top  of  each  bask^^  and  calls 
out,  *0  Satan,  come  and  take  back  your  children, 
and  give  us  our  children.  Send  the  same  Jinneiah 
who  took  our  healthy  children  and  brought  us 
these  sickly  ones ;  do  not  unto  us  this  harm. '  This 
is  repeated  over  each  child.  Evidently  the  idea  is 
that  his  Satanic  majesty  on  Friday  will  conde- 
scend to  listen  to  this  performance  at  noon;  that 
he  is  in  a  good  temper  when  he  hears  the  call 


78      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

from  the  mosque, — *  There  is  no  god  but  one  God, 
and  Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God/ 

**  However,  as  soon  as  I  heard  of  this  I  sent  out 
a  message  to  the  women  that  if  these  babies  were 
not  at  once  taken  up  out  of  their  holes,  I  would 
come  out  and  take  them  out  myself.  The  poor 
mites  were  taken  out  in  double-quick  time,  for 
when  I  went  out  to  follow  up  my  message  a  few 
minutes  later,  there  was  no  sign  of  women  or 
babies, — only  four  sad  holes!  You  will  not  be 
much  surprised  to  hear  that  a  few  days  later  two 
of  these  babies  died.'' 

Mission  hospitals  in  Moslem  lands  are  a  start- 
ling revelation  of  the  heartlessness  and  incredible 
ignorance  of  many  Moslem  mothers.  One  has 
only  to  visit  these  hospitals  for  women  and  chil- 
dren and  hear  the  stories  they  relate  as  common- 
place, to  understand  the  high  death  rate.  If 
the  infant  mortality  of  a  people  is  a  barometer 
of  its  social  progress,  then  Islam  ranks  low  as  a 
religion  of  power. 

Doughty,  the  Arabian  traveller,  tells  of  a 
Bedouin  couple  whose  child  of  six  years,  **  naked 
as  a  worm,  lay  cowering  from  the  cold  in  his 
mother's  arms;  and  he  had  been  thus  naked  all 
the  winter,  at  an  altitude  (here)  of  four  thousand 
feet.  It  is  a  wonder  they  may  outlive  such  evil 
days.  A  man  came  in  who  was  clothed  as  I  never 
saw  another  nomad,  for  he  had  upon  him  ^  home- 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  79 

spun  mantle  of  tent  cloth;  but  the  wind  blew 
through  his  heavy  carpet  garment.  I  found  a 
piece  of  calico  for  the  poor  mother,  to  make  her 
child  a  little  coat.''  Yet  the  Bedouin  children  at 
least  have  some  compensation  in  pure  air  and 
God's  sunlight.  It  is  the  children  of  the  towns 
that  suffer  the  most  from  lack  of  them.  Who  can 
remain  indifferent  to  the  cry  of  the  outcast  chil- 
dren of  Kashgar,  Chinese  Turkestan,  typical  of 
similar  needs  and  sorrows  elsewhere?  ** These 
homeless  and  deserted  children  live  in  the  burial- 
ground,  outside  the  city ;  near  the  dead  they  find 
that  refuge  which  the  living  deny  them.  .  .  . 
Almost  naked,  covered  with  only  a  few  old  rags, 
barefooted  and  bareheaded,  they  are  exposed  to 
the  cold  which  makes  them  freeze,  their  hunger 
becomes  insupportable,  sleep  comes,  and  with  it 
the  angel  of  death  whose  kiss  releases  them  from 
all  the  misery  of  earth-life."  {Missionary  Re- 
view of  the  World,  July,  1910.) 

A  missionary  on  the  borders  of  Afghanistan 
tells  the  story  of  a  poor  leper  boy,  which  illus- 
trates at  once  the  dreadful  suffering  of  such  Mos- 
lem childhood,  and  at  the  same  time  their  ignorant 
opposition  to  the  Gospel. 

**The  poor  leper  boy  has  again  been  talking  to 
me.  He  said,  'God  took  my  father  and  mother 
and  left  me  like  this.  I  do  not  know  what  purpose 
my  life  can  have.    I  have  such  relatives  as  will 


80      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

receive  me  if  I  have  anything  to  give  them,  but 
will  drive  me  from  them  if  I  have  not,  and  say, 
''May  God  kill  you!" — I  shall  die  some  day.  I 
shall  be  found  amongst  the  dung  and  filth  one  day, 
and  no  one  will  ask  any  questions.  During  the 
night  I  sleep  in  this  piece  of  cloth,  a  dirty  piece 
of  rag,  and  the  dew  falls  and  I  find  myself  covered 
with  wet  clothes.  Last  year  the  Tahsildar  bought 
me  a  padded  quilt  for  two  rupees,  but  as  I  was 
sleeping  in  somebody's  house  it  was  stolen  from 
me.' 

''What  a  melancholy  look  shone  from  the  large 
sunken  eyes !  His  cheek-bones  could  be  fairly  well 
traced  through  the  skin,  and  his  aquiline  nose 
made  him  appear  more  wan  than  perhaps  he  was. 
The  foot  which  was  the  cause  of  his  wasting  away 
was  a  horrible  sight;  an  indescribable  mass  of 
corruption,  it  had  oozed  and  oozed  and  crusted 
over  and  over  until  it  appeared  like  a  shapeless 
clod  of  cracked  mud  with  a  great  horny  nail  stick- 
ing through  where  the  big  toe  was.  As  he  stood, 
a  watery  fluid  constantly  oozed,  and  although  he 
assured  me  that  it  did  not  pain,  yet  he  shifted  it 
incessantly  in  a  restless  way,  as  though  conscious 
of  it  as  a  burden.  He  refuses  to  have  it  cut  off. 
This  poor  lad  has  heard  the  Gospel  frequently,  but 
doggedly  sets  his  face  against  it  as  though  he  had 
been  definitely  warned. ' ' 

How  many  little  Moslem  children  in  Baghdad 
and  Busrah  are  born  only  to  die,  as  was  little 
Hussein,  of  whom  Mrs.  Worrall,  M.D.,  tells  us: 
"He  is  only  one  year  and  a  half  old,  but  already 
he  has  spinal  curvature.  Poor  child,  he  does  not 
get  proper  nourishment,  and  the  surroundings  at 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  81 

home  are  not  conducive  to  good  health.  The 
living-room  is  low  and  dark,  with  scarcely  any 
ventilation.  The  court  is  a  very  unsanitary  place, 
in  which  four  different  families  do  their  cooking, 
and  empty  the  wash  water  down  a  central  hole 
in  the  middle  of  the  brick-paved  court.  This 
sometimes  overflows,  so  that  a  pool  of  stagnant 
water  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  court.  Who 
knows  how  many  millions  of  malaria-bearing 
mosquitoes  breed  there,  and  in  the  general  cess- 
pool just  off  the  hallway !  * ' 

When  we  deal  with  statistics  we  must  not  for- 
get that  we  also  deal  with  units  and  not  only  with 
the  masses.  Every  unit  has  its  own  heart  and 
sorrows,  the  sorrows  of  motherhood  bereaved 
and  of  childhood  neglected  or  abandoned.  Des- 
perate tides  of  a  whole  world's  anguish  cannot 
be  measured  in  figures.  ^^Moosa's  baby  girl  was 
very  sick,''  writes  Miss  Uline  of  Bitlis,  Eastern 
Turkey.  *  ^  He  told  me  about  her  as  we  came  down 
from  our  mountain  camp  one  bright  October 
morning.  .  .  .  When  we  reached  the  city  I  told 
him  I  would  come  to  see  the  child  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. His  attitude  toward  a  baby  girl  was 
extraordinary.  In  the  Orient  no  native  cares 
much  whether  girls  live  or  not,  and  when  there  is 
a  large  family  of  girls  the  father  considers  him- 
self greatly  afflicted  and  wonders  what  sin  he  has 
committed  to  be  so  punished. 


82     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

*  *  That  day  was  a  very  busy  one,  and  I  was  not 
able  to  go  to  Moosa's  house  until  after  sunset. 
A  ragged  child  came  running  out  of  an  alley  with 
the  news  that  the  little  girl  had  just  died.  We 
walked  up  a  few  stone  steps  into  a  narrow  court, 
and  there,  outside  the  one-roomed  house,  some 
women  were  throwing  water  over  the  little  body. 
The  child  was  as  white  as  any  American  baby 
and  just  as  pretty.  She  smiled  so  sweetly  I  could 
hardly  believe  she  was  dead.  I  longed  to  lay  her 
out  properly  and  put  a  dainty  white  dress  on  her, 
but  such  a  thing  would  have  been  unheard  of  here 
and  too  sudden  a  departure  from  custom  to  have 
attempted  it.  Instead,  the  body  was  rolled  up 
tightly  in  coarse  cloth,  tied  to  a  narrow  board, 
and  covered  with  a  dark  shawl. 

**As  Mazzes  (her  name)  was  a  little  Kurdish 
baby,  a  Mohammedan  Mullah  was  called.  He 
stood  by  her  body,  which  has  been  placed  on  the 
ground,  stretched  out  his  arms  over  her,  and 
chanted  a  few  prayers  to  Allah,  whose  will  it  had 
been  to  cause  the  child's  death. 

**A11  the  women  went  into  the  house  when  the 
Mullah  came,  but  I  stayed  outside  with  Moosa 
and  the  other  men.  Then  I  went  in  to  see  the 
little  wife,  a  mere  child  of  fifteen  or  sixteen,  who 
had  been  married  eight  years.  Among  the  Kurds 
infants  are  often  betrothed  and  children  are  mar- 


YOUNG  MOSLEM  GIRL  PROM  EQUATORIAL  AFRICA 
Wearing  talisman  and  beads.     The  scars  are  tribal  marks. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  83 

ried.  After  sitting  on  the  floor  a  few  minutes,  I 
went  out  into  the  court  again. 

^ '  Not  twenty  minutes  had  passed  since  the  child 
died,  but  everything  was  over,  and  they  were 
ready  to  bury  her.  The  Mullah  picked  up  the 
little  corpse  and  carried  it  a  short  distance. 
Moosa,  his  father,  a  kind  old  Kurd,  and  I  fol- 
lowed. The  child  was  being  taken  to  the  ceme- 
tery, or  rather,  the  hill  of  bones  and  tumble-down 
stones  they  call  a  cemetery  in  Turkey.  In  a  few 
minutes  we  reached  a  little  market  where  we  met 
three  men  with  spades.  They  walked  ahead  of 
our  little  procession.  The  Mullah  handed  the 
little  dead  baby  to  Moosa,  and  he  carried  her,  his 
own  child,  the  remainder  of  the  way.  It  was  dark, 
and  the  lights  from  the  city  made  the  dreary  spot 
where  they  were  to  dig  the  grave  seem  darker 
in  contrast.'*  .  .  . 

If  children  are  the  pride  and  joy  of  the 
Western  home,  they  are  even  more  essential 
according  to  the  ideals  of  the  East.  The 
Koran  speaks  of  them  as  the  true  wealth  of 
believers,  and  as  in  the  olden  days  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob  children,  but  especially 
sons,  are  counted  the  greatest  gift  of  Allah, 
a  rich  blessing  longed  for  and  welcomed  by  all 
classes  everywhere.  The  childless  Arab  is  often 
reproached,  and  is  a  sad  and  disappointed  man. 
The  childless  wife  has  before  her  the  constant  fear 


84      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  divorce  to  add  to  all  the  other  pangs  and  sor- 
rows of  Moslem  wifehood.  In  Syria  the  warmest 
wish  ever  expressed  by  one  friend  to  another  is, 
**May  God  send  you  seven  sons;''  and  in  a  home 
where  there  is  a  son  one  says,  ^^May  the  time  of 
your  son's  joy  soon  come,"  meaning  his  wedding- 
day.  Daughters  are  not  held  in  such  honour,  and 
the  birth  of  a  girl  is  nowhere  welcomed  as  is  that 
of  her  brother.  ^^Al-entha^  the  female  (mild  to 
labour  and  bringing  forth  the  pastoral  riches), 
is,  of  all  animals,  the  better,"  say  the  Arabians, 
**save  only  in  mankind."  (Doughty,  p.  238.) 
The  more  Moslem  a  country  is,  the  greater  is  the 
degradation  of  womanhood  and  the  inferiority  of 
the  female  sex.  Frank  A.  Martin,  who  spent  eight 
years  in  Afghanistan,  writes  in  his  book,  *  ^  Under 
the  Absolute  Amir": 

^^In  the  case  of  a  girl,  the  birth  is  passed  over 
in  silence,  for  women  are  of  small  account  in 
Afghanistan,  and  sometimes  the  father  will  not 
go  near  the  mother  for  several  days  when  a 
daughter  is  born,  in  order  to  show  his  displeasure 
and  mark  his  resentment  for  the  woman  not  better 
acting  up  to  his  desires  and  wishes. 

**When  one  of  the  Amir's  wives  is  expected  to 
give  birth  to  a  child,  preparations  are  made  for 
the  firing  of  guns  and  fireworks,  and  the  feasting 
of  all  and  sundry,  in  case  it  is  a  boy  that  comes 
into  the  world;  but  if  it  turns  out  to  be  a  girl. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  85 

nothing  in  the  way  of  rejoicing  happens,  and  the 
mother  is  left  to  weep  alone  in  the  disappoint- 
ment of  her  hopes ;  for  all  women  desire  and  pray 
for  a  man  child,  because  then  the  father  will  visit 
her,  and  she  is  made  much  of,  and  everybody  else 
fusses  over  and  congratulates  her,  so  that  she 
enjoys  a  small  triumph.'' 

The  Koran  itself  assigns  this  inferior  position 
to  _girls.  in  its  teaching  regarding  inheritance, 
marriage,  divorce,  etc.,  although  Mohammed  ap- 
pears to  have  disapproved  of  the  practice  of  the 
pagan  Arabs  who  buried  their  infant  daughters 
alive.  (Surah  16:5-9.)  **When  the  birth  of  a 
daughter  is  announced  to  any  one  of  them  dark 
shadows  settle  in  his  face  and  he  is  sad.  He 
hideth  him  from  the  people  because  of  the  ill 
tidings.  Shall  he  keep  it  with  disgrace,  or  bury 
it  in  the  dust  I  Are  not  their  judgments  wrong?" 
Nevertheless  the  whole  attitude  toward  girls, 
in  all  Moslem  lands,  still  follows  the  old  prejur 
dice.  In  another  place  the  Koran  teaches  (Surah 
4:12) :  **With  regard  to  your  children,  God  has 
commanded  you  to  give  the  sons  the  portion  of 
two  daughters.''  Great  cries  of  joy,  we  are  told, 
announce  the  birth  of  a  boy  in  Morocco,  and 
sometimes  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  feasting, 
the  sex  of  a  girl  is  concealed  until  the  day  comes 
for  naming  her ;  as  otherwise  chore  would  not  be 
the  same  cause  for  festivities. 


86     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

A  single  word  is  necessary  regarding  Moslem 
teaching  on  legitimacy.  According  to  the  Koran 
a  child  born  six  months  from  the  date  of  marriage 
has  a  claim  to  legitimacy.  The  general  consensus 
of  Moslem  doctors  points  to  ten  months  as  the 
longest  period  of  pregnancy  recognized  by  any 
court  of  justice.  In  this  they  follow  the  old 
Eoman  law.  According  to  Sunni  law,  an  invalid 
marriage  does  not  affect  the  legitimacy  of  chil- 
dren born  from  it.  In  this  connection  it  is  inter- 
esting to  note  the  rights  of  children  according  to 
Moslem  law.  These  are  mentioned  in  books  of 
jurisprudence  under  the  heading  of  Hidhana,  or 
the  care  of  infant  children. 

In  case  of  separation  by  divorce  between 
parents,  the  child  belongs  to  the  mother,  but  the 
father  is  responsible  for  its  maintenance.  There 
is  no  compulsion  on  the  mother,  as  she  may  not 
be  able  to  take  charge  of  the  infant.  After  the 
mother  the  order  of  the  right  of  maintenance  is 
the  mother's  grandmother;  then  the  father's 
grandmother;  the  sister;  the  mother's  aunt,  etc. 
Full  blood  is  preferred  to  half,  and  maternal  to 
paternal  relations.  The  term  of  Hidhana  lasts  in 
the  case  of  a  male  child  till  he  is  able  to  shift  for 
himself,  that  is,  eat,  drink,  etc.  Then  the  child 
passes  to  the  care  of  the  father  or  other  paternal 
relations.  One  authority  says  that  with  respect 
to  a  boy  this  care  ceases  at  the  end  of  seven  years, 


FELLAH   GIRL   FROM   AN   EGYPTLVN    VILLAGE,    WITH   NATIVE 
DRUM    USED   AT   WEDDINGS   AND   FESTIVITIES 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  87 

but  in  the  case  of  a  girl  it  lasts  until  puberty. 
It  is  recorded  from  Mohammed  that  the  care  of  a 
female  child  devolves  upon  the  father  as  soon  as 
she  begins  to  feel  the  carnal  appetite,  as  she 
then  requires  superintendence  over  her  conduct. 
(Hamilton's  ^^Hedaya,''  1:388.) 

All  these  regulations  regarding  the  legal  status 
of  a  child  are  based  upon  the  practice  of  Moham- 
med and  his  companions  in  the  early  days  of 
Islam.  In  regard  to  marriage  the  same  book  of 
law  tells  us  that  an  infant  has  the  right  to  require 
her  guardian  to  marry  her  to  any  person,  being 
her  equal,  for  whom  she  has  a  liking,  and  he  must 
comply.  In  the  chapter  on  the  maintenance  of 
wives,  Moslem  law  lays  down  that  if  a  man's  wife 
be  still  a  child  he  is  not  legally  required  to  main- 
tain her,  but  can  give  back  her  dower  and  dismiss 
her  again.    (P.  394.) 

In  connection  with  birth  and  earliest  infancy 
there  are  many  curious  customs  observed  among 
Mohammedans,  which,  although  they  differ  in 
different  lands,  are  most  of  them  based  upon 
Moslem  tradition,  n.nd  many  of  them  are  univer- 
sally practised.  In  no  part  of  the  world  does  the 
newborn  child  meet  less  preparation  for  its  recep- 
tion than  among  the  Bedouin.  A  land  bare  of 
many  blessings,  general  poverty,  and  the  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  has  made  the  desert 
mother  stern  of  heart.    In  the  open  desert  under 


88      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  shade  of  an  acacia  tree  or  behind  a  camel,  the 
Arab  baby  first  sees  the  daylight.  As  soon  as  it 
is  born  the  mother  herself  rubs  and  cleans  the 
child  with  sand,  places  it  in  her  handkerchief  and 
carries  it  home.  She  suckles  the  child  for  a  short 
period,  and  at  the  age  of  four  months  it  already 
drinks  profusely  of  camel's  milk.  A  name  is 
given  to  the  infant  immediately;  generally  from 
some  trifling  incident  connected  with  its  birth,  or 
from  some  object  which  attracts  the  mother's 

k)  fancy.  Moslem  names  such  as  Hassan,  Ali,  or 
^    Fatimah,  are  extremely  uncommon  among  the 

(^    true  Bedouins,  although  Mohammed  is  sometimes 

'^V^.-given.      Beside    his    own    peculiar   name    every 

Bedouin  boy  is  called  by  the  name  of  his  father 

and  tribe.    And  what  is  more  remarkable,  boys  are 

often  called  after  their  sisters,  e.g.,  Akhu  Noorah, 

^     the  brother  of  Noorah.    Girls'  names  are  taken 

from  the  constellations,  birds,  or  desert  animals 

"  V     like    Gazelle.      Mrs.    Edwin    E.    Calverley,    of 

C  Kuweit,  Arabia,  writes:  *^ Bedouin  parents  de- 
^!  light  in  calling  their  children  by  queer  names.  A 
^.  favourite  name  for  girls  is  *  Little  Rag,'  and 
'Little  Dog'  is  a  frequent  one  among  boys.  If  a 
mother  thinks  her  family  sufficiently  large,  she 
does  not  hesitate  to  name  the  last  child  *  Enough' 
or  even  *Too  Much.'  The  town  Arabs  tease  the 
Bedouins  about  their  funny  names,  but  these  chil- 
dren of  the  desert  only  smile  good-naturedly  and 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  89 

reply,  'We  are  Bo  Bedou,'  of  which  the  Amer- 
icanism would  be,  *We  are  Hay-seeds,  and  you 
must  not  expect  too  much  of  us. '  " 

In  China,  according  to  Marshall  Broomhall, 
**a  Koranic  name,  King-ming,  has  to  be  given  to 
a  child  within  seven  days  of  its  birth,  upon  which 
occasion  a  feast  has  to  be  made.  [Still-born  chil- 
dren are  not  to  be  named.]  The  rich  are  ex- 
pected to  kill  a  sheep,  two  if  the  child  is  a  male, 
and  the  poor  are  to  be  fed  with  the  meat.  In 
selecting  the  name  the  father  has  to  hold  the  child 
with  its  face  turned  toward  Mecca  and  repeat 
a  prayer  in  each  ear  of  the  child.  Then  taking 
the  Koran  he  turns  over  any  seven  pages,  and 
from  the  seventh  word  of  the  seventh  line  of  the 
seventh  page  gives  the  name.  At  seven  years  of 
age  the  child  is  taught  to  worship  and  is  circum- 
cised. ' ' 

In  Egypt  when  the  child  is  to  be  named,  three 
candles_are  taken  and  called  by  the  chosen  names. 
They  are  then  lighted  simultaneously,  and  the  one 
burning  longest  is  the  name  given  to  the  child. 
One  the  seventh  day,  if  the  child  is  a  boy — girls 
are  not  worth  the  trouble — ^he  will  be  placed  in  a 
sieve  with  several  grains  of  wheat,  barley,  etc. 
The  mixture  is  then  shaken  while  the  midwife 
says:  *' Everything  is  shaken  that  it  may  benefit, 
and  I  am  shaking  you  that  you  may  learn  to  be 
good  when  you  are  chascised,'' 


90      CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Among  the  Moslems  of  India,  who  follow  the 
traditions  of  their  sect,  **at  the  birth  of  a  child, 
after  he  has  been  properly  washed  with  water 
and  bound  in  swaddling  clothes,  he  is  carried 
by  the  midwife  to  the  assembly  of  male  rela- 
tives and  friends,  who  have  met  for  the  occasion, 
when  the  chief  Maulawi,  or  some  person  present, 
recites  the  Asan,  or  summons  to  prayer,  in 
the  infant's  right  ear,  and  the  Iquamah,  which 
is  the  Asan  with  the  addition  of  the  words  *We 
are  standing  up  for  prayers,'  in  the  left 
ear;  a  custom  which  is  founded  on  the  example 
of  the  Prophet,  who  is  related  to  have  done 
so  at  the  birth  of  his  grandson  Hasan.  The 
Maulawi  then  chews  a  little  date  fruit  and  in- 
serts it  into  the  infant's  mouth,  a  custom  also 
founded  upon  the  example  of  Mohammed. 
[^'Mishkat,"  Book  XVIII,  chap,  iv,  1.]  This 
ceremony  being  over,  alms  are  distributed,  and 
fatihahs  are  recited  for  the  health  and  prosperity 
of  the  child.  According  to  the  traditions,  the 
amount  of  silver  given  in  alms  should  be  of  the 
same  weight  as  the  hair  on  the  infant's  head — 
the  child's  hair  being  shaved  for  this  purpose." 
(Hughes,  *^ Dictionary  of  Islam,"  p.  50.) 

This  ceremony  of  shaving  the  head  of  the  in- 
fant child  and  offering  a  sacrifice  is  based  on  the 
practice  of  Mohammed  himself  and  the  custom 
was  probably  current  in  Arabia  long  before  his 


GROUP     OF     CHILDREN     OF     THE     BESHARI     TRIBE,     ANGLO- 
EGYPTIAN   SUDAN 
A  tribe  still  largely  pagan,  but  Islam  is  making  inroads  everywhere. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  91 

day.  It  is  called  the  Aqiqah.  Two  sheep  are  sac- 
rificed for  a  boy  and  one  for  a  girl,  and  it  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that,  on  the  testimony  of  Ayesha, 
no  bone  of  this  sacrifice  is  to  be  broken.  I  have 
often  called  the  attention  of  Moslem  parents  who 
observe  this  ceremony  to  the  redemption  of  the 
first-born  as  related  in  the  Book  of  Exodus,  and 
the  fulfilment  of  this  type  in  Jesus  Christ  on  the 
Cross,  of  Whom  no  bone  was  broken.  This  dedi- 
cation ceremony,  or  something  equivalent  to  it, 
is  found  in  all  Moslem  lands.  From  its  very 
birth  the  Moslem  child  is  a  Moslem. 

The  naming  of  the  child,  according  to  orthodox 
tradition,  takes  place  on  the  seventh  day.  The 
child  is  named  either  after  some  Moslem  saint 
or  prophet,  especially  Mohammed,  Hassan,  or 
Hussein;  after  one  of  the  attributes  of  God,  with 
the  prefix  Abd  (slave  or  servant  of) ;  and  more 
rarely  because  of  circumstances  suggested  by  the 
auspicious  hour,  the  planet,  or  the  sign  of  the 
zodiac.  In  India,  Madagascar,  and  the  East  In- 
dies many  other  customs  are  observed  which  are 
not  purely  Moslem,  but  have  been  adopted  from 
other  religions.  In  India,  for  example.  Miss 
Martin  of  Calcutta  tells  us  that  in  the  fifth  month 
they  '*  observe  the  ceremony  of  Khir  Khitai,  or 
feeding  the  child  with  milk,  rice,  and  sugar 
cooked  together.  The  stuff  is  taken  from  the  plate 
with  an  old  rupee,  and  a  little  put  into  the  child's 


92     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

mouth.  After  the  ceremony  the  old  rupee  is  worn 
as  a  charm  by  the  child."  Another  practice  is 
called  Namak  Chassi.  *^  After  five  months  and 
two  days  the  child  gets  a  little  solid  food  called 
Palao  (rice,  flesh  of  fowl,  and  clarified  butter 
called  ghee  cooked  together).  The  sisters  or 
cousins  of  the  child  put  a  grain  or  two  in  its 
mouth,  and  a  drop  or  two  of  water ;  after  this  the 
child  gets  solid  food  every  day.''  For  the  cruel 
customs  /observed  among  Moslem  women  in 
Madagascar,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Gabriel 
Far  rand's  book  on  the  subject,  ^^Musulmans 
a  Madagascar,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  20-22  (Paris, 
1891). 

The  religious  ceremony  which  follows  that  of 
Aqiqah  in  the  life  of  a  Moslem  child  is  circum- 
cision. Although  this  practice  is  nowhere  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Koran,  it  is  universal  among  all 
Moslems,  and  is  based  upon  the  teaching  and 
practice  of  the  Prophet.  It  is  recommended  to 
be  performed  upon  a  boy  between  the  ages  of 
seven  and  twelve,  but  it  is  lawful  to  circumcise 
a  child  seven  days  after  his  birth.  The  process 
is  not  always  antiseptic,  by  any  means,  and  evil 
results  are  frequently  in  evidence,  not  to  speak 
of  the  suffering  caused  to  the  child.  It  is,  how- 
ever, the  grand  event  of  a  boy's  childhood,  and  is 
his  feast  day,  in  every  part  of  the  Moslem  world. 
The   description   of   the   rite   as   performed  in 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  93 

Morocco  corresponds  closely  to  the  practice  in 
Egypt  and  other  Moslem  lands. 

**  Previous  to  the  performance  of  the  rite,  the 
parents  of  the  lad,  if  not  in  indigent  circum- 
stances, generally  cause  him  to  be  paraded 
through  several  streets  of  the  town,  dressed  in 
the  richest  and  most  gaudy  articles  of  clothing 
obtainable,  with  a  stiff  handkerchief  bound  like 
a  hat  round  his  head;  mounted  on  a  handsomely 
caparisoned  horse,  often  borrowed  for  the  occa- 
sion. 

**The  horse  is  led,  and  on  each  side  of  it  walk 
men  bearing  silk  handkerchiefs,  with  which  they 
continually  flap  away  the  flies  from  the  child's 
face.  The  procession  is  headed  by  native  mu- 
sicians keeping  up  an  incessant  din  of  ear- 
splitting  music.  Behind  walk  the  family  and 
friends  of  the  boy.  Two  boys  are  sometimes 
paraded  together,  and  sometimes  two  are  placed 
on  one  horse.  The  procession  is  frequently  ac- 
companied by  flags,  the  object  of  this  display 
being  to  attract  the  eye  and  divert  it  from  the 
child,  so  great  is  the  fear  of  the  *evil  eye.'  The 
operation  is  performed  with  scissors,  either  at 
home  or  at  some  shrine  of  repute."  (^*The 
Moors,"  p.  243.) 

In  Cairo  the  family  send  out  gilt-edged  printed 
invitation  cards  to  the  ceremony.  I  have  two  in 
my  possession,  and  curiously  both  of  them  give 


94.     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  Christian  date  as  well  as  the  Moslem  date  for 
the  feast,  and  certain  verses  of  poetry  expressing 
their  wishes  for  this  auspicious  occasion.  In  the 
cities  of  the  Moslem  world  the  rite  is  performed 
in  accordance  with  the  religious  law,  at  a  tender 
age,  but  in  the  country  and  among  the  Bedouin 
tribes  it  is  often  postponed  until  the  twelfth  or 
thirteenth  year.  In  India  this  ceremony  is  per- 
formed at  the  age  of  seven  or  nine,  an  odd  number 
of  years  generally  being  chosen.  The  boy  is 
dressed  as  a  bridegroom  and  there  is  great  re- 
joicing. A  similar  feast  is  given  to  girls  at  that 
age.  The  girl  is  dressed  as  a  bride,  friends  are 
invited,  and  the  ears  and  nose  of  the  child  are 
bored.  The  higher  the  rank,  the  fewer  the  holes 
in  the  ears.  Doubtless  this  ceremony  in  India  is 
connected  with  a  practice  which  prevails  in  many 
parts  of  the  Moslem  world,  especially  Egypt, 
Abyssinia,  and  Arabia.  We  refer  to  the  abomi- 
nable custom  of  female  circumcision  or  mutilation. 
It  is  inevitably  a  moral  shock  and  crisis  brought 
prematurely  into  the  innocence  of  girlhood. 
Grave  results  have  been  observed  in  school  chil- 
dren, both  mentally  and  morally.  Mohammed 
the  prophet  is  reported  to  have  said:  ** Circum- 
cision is  compulsory  for  males  and  an  honourable 
act  for  females."  For  the  origin  and  character 
of  this  practice  see  Moslem  tradition,  or  Nie- 
buhr's  *^ Travels  in  Arabia"  (Vol.  II,  pp.  250- 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  95 

251)  and  Klein,  ^^The  Religion  of  Islam''  (p. 
131).  In  Egypt  it  is  considered  a  great  disgrace 
for  a  Moslem  girl  not  to  be  circumcised,  and  the 
custom  is  also  said  to  be  prevalent  among  the 
Coptic  Christian  population. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  some  of  the  prac- 
tices still  existing  in  Moslem  lands,  which  add 
darker  shades  to  the  picture  of  childhood.  Dr. 
C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  mentions  some  of  the  hor- 
rible details  in  the  sale  of  female  slaves,  espe- 
cially young  girls,  and  the  mutilation  of  male 
slaves  for  the  markets.  Eunuchs  are  still  plenti- 
ful in  many  Moslem  lands,  and,  curiously  enough, 
are  specially  imported  to  act  as  guards  for  the 
mosques.  On  this  whole  subject  see  especially 
the  book  by  Dr.  A.  Zambaco  Pasha,  **Les 
Eunuques  d'Aujourd'hui  et  Ceux  de  Jadis," 
Paris,  1911.  He  says  that  there  are  over  two 
thousand  eunuchs  in  Constantinople,  many  of 
them  still  little  boys.  In  North  Africa  they  are 
still  manufactured  for  the  Moslem  market. 

Moslem  childhood  does  not  last  long.  The 
whole  system  of  Islam  as  it  concerns  family  life 
and  the  treatment  of  women  and  children,  is  vile 
and  revolting;  and  where  in  certain  parts  of  the 
world  civilization  has  crowded  out  these  semi- 
barbarous  customs  and  elevated  womanhood,  it 
has  been  in  defiance  of  the  religious  teaching  of 
the  Prophet  himself.    According  to  Moslem  law 


96     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  child  has  no  period  of  adolescence.  Boys  and 
girls  leap  from  infancy  into  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, and  the  limit  of  the  age  of  childhood  is 
fixed  wholly  by  physical  laws.  There  is  no 
thought  of  the  immaturity  of  the  mind.  At  the 
first  signs  of  puberty  childhood  legally  ceases.  El 
Ghazzali,  than  whom  there  is  no  higher  authority 
in  Islam  even  to-day,  gives  these  stages  in  the 
life  of  childhood.  **The  Moslem  boy  shall  have 
the  Aqiqah  performed  on  the  seventh  day.  When 
he  reaches  six,  he  is  old  enough  to  be  punished; 
when  he  reaches  nine  he  is  to  sleep  by  himself, 
and  when  he  becomes  thirteen  he  is  to  be  driven 
with  blows  to  prayer,  if  he  refuses.  At  sixteen 
years  his  father  shall  cause  him  to  marry. ' '  And 
then  parental  responsibility  ceases.  In  another 
tradition  Mohammed  is  reported  to  have  said, 
**Your  sons  are  the  perfume  of  your  life  for  seven 
years;  then  for  seven  years  they  are  your  serv- 
ants ;  after  that  they  will  turn  into  your  enemies 
or  your  friends  forever.'*  Abu  Hanifa  asserts 
that  both  boys  and  girls  are  adults  at  the  age  of 
fifteen.  The  earliest  period  of  puberty  with  re- 
spect to  a  boy  is  said  to  be  twelve,  and  with  respect 
to  a  girl  nine  years.  According  to  Moslem  law 
the  child  himself  must  make  the  declaration  and 
be  credited.  After  this  they  become  subject  to 
all  the  laws  affecting  adults,  and  must  observe 
aU  the   ordinances   of  the  Moslem  faith    (**E1 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  97 

Hadayah,"  Hamilton's  translation,  Vol.  Ill,  p. 
483). 

We  cannot  be  surprised  that  the  period  of 
adolescence,  of  happy  childhood,  of  a  life  without 
the  responsibility  of  marriage  and  parenthood,  is 
made  so  brief  in  Moslem  lands  when  we  consider 
on  what  Moslem  practices  are  based.  Child  mar- 
riage is  a  great  evil,  but  it  is  based  upon  the  high- 
est authority  in  the  Moslem  world,  namely,  the 
practice  of  the  Prophet  himself.  We  read :  *  *  The 
Prophet  (on  whom  be  prayers  and  peace)  married 
Ayesha  when  she  was  six  years  old,  and  cohabited 
with  her  when  she  was  nine;  and  she  then  re- 
mained his  wife  for  nine  years."  (Sahih  ul 
Bokhari,  VII:  21.)  What  chance  is  there  for  the 
physical  development  of  girlhood  or  boyhood  thus 
cruelly  handicapped !  As  a  child  the  Moslem  girl 
has  before  her  only  a  few  short  years  in  which 
she  is  able  to  learn  at  home  or  in  school,  and  the 
effort  to  improve  these  short  years  is  often  fruit- 
less, because  just  as  she  shows  any  signs  of  bud- 
ding womanhood  she  must  lay  aside  her  books  and 
**be  hidden,''  as  they  say  in  Arabic.  Her  educa- 
tion stops  just  at  the  point  when  her  mind  is  be- 
ginning to  develop.  She  is  thrust  back  into 
seclusion  when  she  has  made  her  first  venture 
into  the  world  of  life  and  thought  about  her,  and 
the  seclusion  of  Moslem  girls,  we  must  bear  in 
mind,  has  its  effect  physically  as  well  as  mentally 


98     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  morally.  Child  marriage  is  a  defiance  of  the 
laws  of  Nature,  and  its  evils  are  multiform  and 
deplorable.  As  Dr.  Dennis  states:  **It  is  physi- 
cally injurious,  morally  deleterious,  mentally 
weakening;  destructive  of  family  dignity;  pro- 
ductive of  enfeebled  offspring ;  provokes  the  curse 
of  poverty,  and  tends  to  rapid  over-population.'^ 
(** Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  VoL 
I,  p.  119.)  Of  late  voices  have  been  raised  in  pro- 
test against  the  custom  of  early  marriage  by 
Moslems  themselves,  especially  in  India  and  Tur- 
key. We  learn  that  the  Department  of  Public 
Health  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  has  just  decided 
that  hereafter  the  marriageable  age  for  residents 
in  European  and  Asiatic  Turkey  shall  be  eighteen 
years  for  boys  and  fourteen  years  for  girls; 
while  in  the  warmer  regions  of  Arabia  and  Syria, 
the  limit  is  two  years  younger  in  each  case.  As 
the  Sheri'ah,  or  sacred  law,  fixes  the  limit  for  girls 
at  nine  years,  this  new  rule  is  a  great  advance  in 
the  right  direction.  But  in  all  Moslem  lands  early 
marriage  is  still  the  rule  and  its  postponement  to 
maturity  the  exception.^ 

^  Dr.  T.  L.  Pennell  states  that  "  the  fine  physique  and  good 
health  of  the  hill  Afghans  and  nomadic  tribes  is  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  their  girls  do  not  marry  till  full  grown,  not  usually 
till  over  twenty,  and  till  then  they  lead  healthy,  vigorous,  out- 
door lives."  It  is  the  nomad  life  not  yet  dominated  by  Moslem 
custom  which  permits  the  physical  development  of  girlhood  im- 
possible to  Moslem  girls  of  the  towns. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  99 

Not  many  months  ago  a  would-be  reformer  in 
Alexandria  stirred  the  whole  of  intelligent  Egypt 
by  requesting  the  government  to  raise  the  mar- 
riageable age  of  girls  from  twelve  to  sixteen.  A 
Bill  was  actually  drafted  to  this  effect,  when  the 
inevitable  fetwa  of  the  Ulama  made  it  clear  that 
this  was  going  against  the  law  of  Islam,  and  that 
those  who  supported  it  would  be  enemies  to  Islam. 
The  reform  was  dropped  like  a  hot  cinder.  In 
Persia  girls  are  often  married  when  they  are  mere 
children.    Dr.  Wishard  writes : 

**  Every  doctor  in  Persia  who  has  had  much 
experience  could  tell  most  dreadful  and  harrow- 
ing stories  of  the  suffering  these  early  marriages 
have  caused.  I  have  seen  children  brought  to 
the  hospital  the  very  mention  of  whose  husband's 
names  would  cause  outbursts  of  shrieks,  lest  they 
might  be  compelled  to  return  to  them.  It  is  need- 
less for  me  to  state  here  that  this  early  mar- 
riage on  the  part  of  girls  means  a  weakened 
race.  Many  of  these  children  are  married,  often 
at  the  age  of  twelve,  to  men  old  enough  to  be 
their  grandfathers,  and  this  means  a  large  num- 
ber of  widows.'' 

The  Javanese  also  marry  early,  when  the 
daughter  is,  say,  twelve  or  fourteen  and  the  boy 
about  sixteen  years  old.  Among  the  Afghans 
a  girl,  as  soon  as  she  reaches  nubile  age,  is,  for 
all  practical  purposes,  put  up  for  auction  sale  to 
the  highest  bidder.    Her  father  discourses  on  her 


100     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

merits  as  a  beauty  or  as  a  housekeeper  in  the 
public  meeting-places,  and  invites  offers  from 
those  who  are  in  want  of  a  wife.  Even  the  more 
wealthy  and  more  respectable  Afghans  are  not 
above  this  system  of  thus  lauding  the  human 
wares  which  they  have  for  sale.  **The  betrothal 
of  girls  who  are  not  yet  born  is  frequent,  and  a 
promise  of  a  girl  thus  made  is  considered  par- 
ticularly binding.  It  is  also  usual  for  an  award 
of  compensation  for  blood  to  be  paid  in  the  shape 
of  girls,  some  of  whom  are  living  whilst  others 
are  not  yet  born.''  (A.  D.  Dixey,  ^  *  Baluchistan, ' ' 
Church  Missionary  Review,  December,  1908). 

A  medical  missionary  in  India  tells  of  a  girl 
who  came  *^  suffering  from  granular  eyelids,  a 
terrible  trouble,  which  is  common  here.  She  is  a 
girl  in  years,  but  a  divorced  woman,  divorced  be- 
fore her  baby  boy  was  born.  Now  he  is  the  light  of 
her  eyes ;  yet  the  father  will  be  able  to  claim  him 
when  he  is  three  years  old.  This  is  Mohammedan 
law,  I  am  told."  And  the  tragedy  of  this  home 
life,  so  prevalent  in  all  Moslem  lands,  is  not  re- 
vealed only  to  the  medical  missionary.  Educated 
Moslems  themselves  are  beginning  to  see  it.  S. 
Khuda  Bukhsh,  an  educated  Moslem  from  India, 
writes  in  his  Essays:  ** Children  brought  up  in 
this  poisonous  atmosphere  can  hardly  be  expected 
to  be  a  credit  to  their  society  or  a  glory  to 
their  country.     We  cannot  gather  grapes  from 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  101 

thorns  nor  figs  from  thistles.  Let  us,  then,  first 
and  foremost,  purify  and  sanctify  our  home  and 
hearth.'^  Kasim  Amin  Bey  in  his  book  on  **The 
New  Woman,''  and  Mansur  Fahmy  in  his  recent 
volume  on  ^^La  Femme,''  have  clearly  shown  the 
results  of  the  degradation  of  Moslem  womanhood 
upon  the  children  of  the  Moslem  world. 

The  protests  of  Moslem  reformers  are  gener- 
ally concerned,  however,  not  with  the  rights  of 
children,  but  with  the  rights  of  women.  The 
awakened  conscience  among  educated  Moslems  in 
this  respect  is  due  largely  to  Western  education 
and  to  the  higher  ideals  of  home  life  taught  and 
exhibited  by  Christian  missions.  We  must  not 
forget,  however,  that  this  reform  movement  even 
where  it  has  gained  the  largest  following,  as,  for 
example,  in  India,  only  touches  a  small  percent- 
age of  the  Moslem  population.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  the  total  number  of  Mohammedans 
with  Western  education  does  not  exceed  one  mil- 
lion, which  would  be  less  than  one-half  per  cent. 
Of  their  efforts  at  reform  we  shall  learn  later  in 
this  book. 

A  true  idea  of  Moslem  childhood  as  it  concerns 
the  masses  to-day  can,  therefore,  only  be  gained 
when  we  remember  that  everywhere  ignorance 
and  superstition  brood  over  the  home  life  in  lands 
like  Afghanistan,  Turkestan,  Persia,  and  the  vil- 
lages of  India  and  Egypt ;  and  the  result  is  sadly 


ioa     CHILDHOOD'  iK'THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

evident  in  the  physical  life  of  the  child.  The 
lack  of  all  medical  knowledge  in  the  home  and 
the  medical  treatment  given  when  a  native  hakim 
or  doctor  is  called  in,  are  both  the  cause  of  need- 
less and  unintentional  cruelty  to  children.  In 
this  matter  again  there  is  a  wonderful  similarity 
of  cause  and  effect  in  all  Moslem  lands.  The 
Tuh  en-Nehawi  or  the  Table  Talk  of  Mohammed 
on  medical  subjects,  has  been  carefully  collected 
and  is  circulated  everywhere,  either  in  books  of 
tradition  or  in  manuals  for  the  home.  Whatever 
he  taught  is  considered  the  quintessence  of  wis- 
dom and  the  final  word  in  medicine.  Mohammed 
himself  was  superstitious  and  the  Koran  contains 
revelations  about  witchcraft  and  sorcery.^  It  is 
hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  belief  in 
magic  has  a  greater  hold  upon  the  masses  than 
the  faith  of  Islam  itself.  This  is  especially  true 
on  the  border-marches  of  Islam  in  Malaysia  and 
Africa.  Millions  of  Moslems  are  the  slaves  of 
ignorance  and  superstition,  and  Moslem  children 
everywhere  are  bedecked  with  talismans  and 
amulets  to  ward  off  evil.  The  following  are  used 
as  amulets  in  Arabia:  a  small  Koran  suspended 
from  the  shoulder;  a  chapter  written  on  paper 
and  folded  in  a  leather  case ;  some  of  the  names  of 
God  or  their  numerical  values ;  the  names  of  the 

*  Especially  Surahs   113  and  114;   see  the  commentaries  and 
Moslem  books  on  magic. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  103 

Prophet  and  his  companions ;  green  stones  with- 
out inscriptions ;  beads,  old  coins,  animal  teeth,  or 
holy  earth  from  Mecca  or  Kerbela  in  small  bags. 
Amulets  are  not  only  worn  by  the  Arabs  them^ 
selves  and  by  children  to  protect  them  from  the 
evil  eye,  but  they  are  put  on  camels,  donkeys, 
horses,  fishing-boats,  and  sometimes  over  the 
doors  of  their  dwellings.  In  Hejaz  if  a  child  is 
very  ill  the  mother  takes  seven  flat  loaves  of  bread 
and  puts  them  under  its  pillow;  in  the  morning 
the  loaves  are  given  to  the  dogs, — and  the  child 
is  not  always  cured.  Rings  are  worn  against  the 
influence  of  evil  spirits;  incense  or  evil-smelling 
compounds  are  burned  in  the  sick-room  to  drive 
away  the  devil;  mystic  symbols  are  written  on 
the  walls  for  a  similar  purpose.  Love-philtres 
are  everywhere  used  and  in  demand;  and  name- 
less absurdities  are  committed  to  insure  success- 
ful childbirth.  The  child  witch,  called  Um-el- 
subyan,  is  feared  by  all  mothers;  narcotics  are 
freely  used  to  quiet  unruly  infants,  and  naturally 
mortality  is  very  large.  In  Persia  opium  is  used 
to  an  alarming  extent  in  the  nursery,  with  all  its 
evil  consequences  upon  the  child. 

In  Turkey,  we  are  told  by  Miss  Isabel  M.  Blake 
of  Aintab  (Life  and  Light,  November,  1914) : 
*  *  In  some  localities  babies  when  born  are  smeared 
with  oil  and  laid  in  the  sun;  in  others  they  are 
rubbed  with  salt  until  the  tender  flesh  is  nearly 


104     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

raw.  The  poor,  ignorant  village  woman  hangs 
amulets  or  blue  beads  upon  her  baby,  as  the 
peasant  does  upon  horse,  donkey,  or  camel,  ^to 
keep  off  the  evil  eye.'  Then,  though  he  is  scarcely 
a  year  old,  she  feeds  him  with  unripe  grapes  and 
wonders  why  he  sickens  and  dies.  The  flies 
gather  on  the  sticky  face  and  cling  around  the 
eyes  of  the  baby  lying,  with  arms  and  legs  tightly 
bound,  in  its  cradle  and  the  mother  wonders  why 
his  eyes  are  sore."  Dr.  Hamilton  of  the  same 
station  was  once  called  to  see  an  infant.  Entering 
the  courtyard  she  found  that  the  mother  had 
heated  a  hairpin  red  hot  and  was  applying  it  to 
the  poor  child's  joints.  On  the  doctor's  indignant 
protest,  she  looked  up  wonderingly  and  said, 
** Why,  we  all  do  that  in  our  village !  It's  to  make 
the  baby  strong." 

In  Arabia  this  practice  of  cautery  (kei)  is  uni- 
versal as  a  favourite  cure  for  all  sorts  of  dis- 
eases. This  is  based  upon  a  saying  of  Moham- 
med that  the  ^4ast  medicine  (namely,  the  most 
powerful)  is  cautery."  Little  children  often  have 
brand  marks  all  over  their  bodies  (which  become 
festering  sores),  placed  there  with  the  intention 
of  curing  them  of  fevers,  rheumatism,  and  other 
ills  of  childhood.  Another  favourite  remedy  in 
Arabia  and  Persia  is  kJielal,  or  perforating  the 
skin  surface  with  a  red-hot  iron  and  then  passing 
a  thread  through  the  hole  to  facilitate  suppura- 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  105 

tion.  Scarcely  one  Arab  in  a  hundred  who  has 
not  some  kei  marks  on  his  body.  Where  kei  fails 
they  have  recourse  to  words  written  on  paper 
either  from  the  Koran  or,  by  law  of  contraries, 
words  of  evil  sinister  import.  These  the  patient 
** takes"  either  by  swallowing  them,  paper  and 
all,  or  by  drinking  the  ink-water  in  which  the 
writing  is  washed  off.  Their  pharmacopoeia  is  not 
large,  but  quite  remarkable.  In  addition  to  such 
simple  herbs  of  the  desert  as  the  women  collect 
and  dry,  they  use  in  grave  emergencies  that  which 
is  haram  (forbidden)  and  unclean.  Patients  have 
come  to  me  for  a  small  piece  of  swine's  flesh 
(which  they  suppose  all  Christians  eat)  to  cure 
one  in  desperate  straits.  Doughty  tells  how 
among  the  Bedouins  they  give  the  sick  to  eat  of 
the  carrion-eagle,  and  even  seethe  the  asses'  dung 
for  a  potion.  The  science  of  medicine  in  the 
towns  is  not  much  in  advance  of  that  of  the  desert 
— more  book-talk  but  even  less  natural  intelli- 
gence. A  disease  to  be  at  all  respectable  must  be 
connected  with  one  of  the  four  temperaments  or 
** humours  of  Hippocrates."  Medicines  are  hot 
and  cold,  wet  and  dry;  and  the  same  fourfold 
classification  distinguishes  all  ailments. 

Most  of  the  diseases  of  childhood,  however,  are' 
supposed  to  be  caused  by  demons  or  the  evil  eye. 
Mothers  live  in  perpetual  terror  on  account  of 
this  superstition.     From  Algiers  we  learn  that  \ 


106     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

when  a  child  is  born  the  people  believe  a  little 
demon  is  brought  into  the  world  at  the  same  time, 
whose  birth  takes  place  in  the  cupboard  or  the 
wall.  If  the  child  is  prettier  than  the  demon,  the 
latter  gets  jealous  and  causes  convulsions.  The 
woman  then  goes  round  the  court,  and  standing 
still  in  one  corner,  converses  with  the  demon,  be- 
seeching it  to  leave  her  little  one  in  peace.  The 
demon  specially  feared  for  the  children  is  called 
Xaha.  In  order  to  pacify  it  all  sorts  of  things 
are  done,  of  which  the  following  are  instances: 
A  black  hen  is  kept  in  the  room.  Immediately 
the  baby  is  born  it  is  driven  far  away  from  the 
house,  and  woe  to  him  who  picks  it  up,  for  the 
demon  enters  him  instead  of  the  child ;  or  a  dog  is 
kept  in  the  room,  who  shares  all  the  mother  has 
to  eat.  The  demon  then  enters  her  puppies;  or 
the  child  is  sold;  the  purchaser  comes  to  see  it; 
it  is  told  its  mother  has  come,  and  they  all  act  as 
if  this  were  true. 

Whooping-cough  is  caused  by  certain  demons 
which  tickle  the  lungs.  Our  Algerian  correspond- 
ent goes  on  to  say:  ** There  are  all  sorts  of 
remedies  for  this,  such  as  giving  the  child 
snails  and  honey,  or  taking  it  to  the  gas  works. 
This  last  would  seem  quite  medical,  but  it  is 
not  so  in  reality,  for  they  believe  the  fumes 
will  drive  the  demon  away.  Then  in  cases 
where  the  cough  is  at  its  worst,  they  stretch 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  107 

the  child  out  flat  and  prepare  an  instrument 
with  which  to  cut  its  throat.  Having  pre- 
tended to  do  this  they  hold  it  up  three  times  as 
an  offering  to  the  demon,  thinking  that  he  will 
then  be  satisfied  and  leave  the  child  alone.*' 
Some  of  the  practices  are  ridiculous  rather  than 
cruel.  When  a  child  is  backward  in  learning  to 
walk,  eggs  are  smashed  on  its  little  feet,  or  figs 
and  sugar  are  placed  on  its  knees.  When  the  baby- 
snores  in  Algeria  a  cat  is  placed  in  a  sack,  and 
the  sleeping  infant  is  hit  with  it  until  the  snores 
enter  the  cat  instead! 

Mohammedan  mothers  believe  that  jealousy  is 
a  disease  and  should  be  so  treated.  All  kinds  of 
curious  practices  are  in  vogue  to  drive  out  this 
demon  of  jealousy,  which  the  foreseen  arrival  of 
a  little  brother  or  sister  produces  in  the  child. 
In  Algiers  this  malady  is  treated  as  follows:  An 
egg  is  boiled  in  quicklime,  the  shell  taken  off,  and 
it  is  given  to  the  child  to  eat ;  or  the  child  is  put 
on  the  doorstep,  two  eggs  are  placed  in  its  lap, 
which  other  children  take  away,  thus  causing  the 
jealousy  to  enter  them;  or  the  child  is  given 
**Peau  des  tombes'*  to  drink  (i.e.,  the  water  which 
is  poured  on  the  graves  of  the  Marabouts),  whilst 
the  mother  says  some  words  to  the  effect  that 
the  heart  of  the  little  one  may  become  as  cold  as 
the  dead  body  of  the  Marabout.  The  jealousy  of 
one  woman  for  another's  baby  is  thought  to  cast 


108     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

a  spell  whicli  necessitates  the  following  ceremony : 
A  fire  is  lighted  upon  the  ordinary  family  pedes- 
tal, salt  sprinkled  upon  the  flames,  and  the  in- 
fant swung  round  seven  times  in  the  fumes,  to  the 
accompaniment  of  appropriate  incantations.  The 
ceremony  is  varied  in  the  case  of  adults,  the 
pedestal  being  swung  round  the  individual. 

In  Egypt  the  evil  eye  is  a  special  danger  to 
children,  who  must  be  protected  by  many  strange 
practices.  Before  a  child  is  seven  days  old  the 
midwife  will  place  near  its  head  a  loaf  of  bread, 
a  lump  of  salt,  and  a  sharp  knife.  The  explana- 
tion is  that  devils  fear  the  knife,  and  recognizing 
salt  and  bread  as  blessings  of  God,  will  conclude 
that  the  child  is  also  a  blessing  and  therefore  go 
away. 

Of  the  effect  of  Moslem  education  and  moral 
training — or  the  utter  lack  of  moral  training — 
even  upon  the  physique  of  the  child,  we  will  speak 
later.  The  reader  has  already  had  a  glimpse  of 
the  environment  in  which  the  child  grows  up.  One 
thing,  however,  remains  to  be  noticed,  namely, 
the  evil  of  child  labour.  The  Moslem  world  as  a 
whole  is  not  one  of  factories  and  workshops, 
where  the  conditions  of  Western  civilization*  have 
brought  in  the  curse  of  child  labour  with  its  de- 
plorable consequences,  but  there  is  no  anti-child- 
labour  law  or  sentiment  in  any  part  of  the  Mos- 
lem world.    The  children  of  the  poor  are  made  to 


■■^  J  :■'.'. '-.:.'". 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  109 

work  from  their  earliest  years,  and  many  Moslem 
families  are  supported  by  the  wages  of  children/ 

The  statistics  of  illiteracy  show  how  few  chil- 
dren there  are  who  have  opportunity  for  educa- 
tion. Nor  have  they  time  for  play.  One  of  the 
missionaries  in  India  made  a  plea  that  to  the  chil- 
dren of  that  country  might  be  brought  the  gift  of 
childhood.  **They  are  all  little  old  men  and 
women,''  she  said;  and  Mrs.  Napier  Malcolm,  in 
speaking  of  Persian  children,  makes  the  same  ob- 
servation. One  of  our  illustrations  shows  how  in 
Java  mere  babies  are  employed  in  weaving  hats 
for  the  trade.  The  room  where  they  work  seems 
clean  and  airy,  but  what  of  the  child's  mind  and 
soul  in  daily  contact  with  elders  and  strangers 
whose  conversation  is  Moslem? 

When  childhood  has  to  assume  such  responsi- 
bility, not  only  of  hard  labour,  but  often  of  help- 
ing support  the  family,  and  when  children  are 
associated  with  their  elders  at  the  same  task,  it 
is  good  for  neither  their  bodies  nor  their  souls. 
Mrs.  Worrall,  M.D.,  thus  describes  a  visit  to  the 
date-packers  at  Busrah : 

**  Under  all  the  porticos  were  men  and  women, 

^  In  the  year  1900,  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  children  under 
sixteen  years  of  age  in  the  United  States  were  working  for 
wages.  The  new  census  of  1910  shows  a  small  decrease  in  the 
percentage  of  child  labour.  In  Europe,  of  course,  the  situation 
is  worse,  but  in  all  Christian  lands  there  are  laws  against  child 
labour,  and  school  privileges  are  open  to  most,  if  not  all  children. 
It  is  not  so  in  the  Dar-ul-Islam. 


110     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

boys  and  girls,  seated  on  clean  mats,  selecting 
the  best  dates  from  boxes  into  which  they  had 
been  loosely  thrown.  These  they  laid  one  by 
one  in  regular  rows.  One  quick-fingered  girl  was 
able  to  pack  seven  boxes  a  day,  although  she  was 
not  at  all  well.  Another,  an  old  woman,  could 
finish  one  and  a  half.  Each  was  to  receive  two 
cents  a  box  for  the  packing,  so  none  could  grow 
rich  at  the  work,  although  what  they  received 
no  doubt  meant  a  great  deal  to  them.  While  we 
were  watching  the  packing,  the  hammals  (men 
who  carry  the  dates  from  the  boats  to  the  pack- 
ers) brought  a  special  kind  of  date.  On  perceiv- 
ing this,  a  large  number  of  packers  ran  to  fill 
their  boxes  with  this  sort,  which  is  easier  to  pack, 
but  the  heavy  stick  applied  on  the  back  of  a  few 
dispersed  them  quickly  to  their  work.'' 

In  regard  to  child  labour  in  Syria,  Miss  Manas- 
seh  writes :  '  *  Girls  as  young  as  nine  or  ten  often 
go  to  the  silk-spinning  factories,  where  they  work 
sometimes  thirteen  to  fourteen  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four,  for  sixpence  or  eightpence  a  day. 
They  frequently  become  ill  from  the  bad  air  of  the 
factory,  the  smell  of  the  cocoons  mingled  with  the 
steam  being  peculiarly  nauseous.  One  can  always 
tell  when  a  girl  has  been  in  the  factory  for  any 
length  of  time  by  her  pale  cheeks  and  listless 
expression. ' ' 

We  close  this  chapter  with  a  vivid  picture  of  the 


THE  PRICE  OF  A  TURKISH  RUG 
Moslem  girls  in  Turkey  at  the  loom. 


PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  111 

horrors  of  child  labour  in  the  factories  of  Kirman, 
Persia.  The  picture  in  the  text  shows  how  costly 
rugs  can  be  made  which  are  not  the  price  of  blood, 
but  a  symbol  of  the  ministry  and  human  helpful- 
ness. In  our  illustration  we  see  Moslem  orphan 
girls,  after  the  Balkan  wars,  weaving  carpet 
under  the  care  of  the  missionaries  in  Turkey. 
They  look  well-fed,  healthy,  and  happy.  Such 
child  labour  is  not  a  curse,  but  Mrs.  Malcolm  tells 
a  different  story. 

*^The  factories  of  Kirman  are  filled  with  chil- 
dren from  four  years  old  upward,  underfed,  over- 
worked, living  a  loveless,  joyless,  hopeless  life. 
The  factories  are  built  without  windows  lest  the 
children's  attention  should  be  distracted,  and  the 
bad  air,  want  of  food,  and  the  constantly  keeping 
in  one  position  produce  rickets  and  deformity  in 
nearly  all.  Of  thirty-eight  children  examined  in 
one  factory,  thirty-six  were  deformed. 

**One  of  the  governors  of  Kirman  forbade  the 
employment  of  children  under  twelve  in  the  fac- 
tories, but  the  order  did  not  last  beyond  his  gov- 
ernorship. The  same  governor  gave  the  order, 
still  in  force,  which  forbids  the  employment  of 
children  before  dawn  or  after  sunset,  thus  re- 
ducing their  working  hours  to  an  average  of 
twelve  hours  a  day.  A  recent  governor  added  to 
this  an  order  limiting  the  Friday  work  to  about 
two  and  a  half  hours,  *from  sunrise  to  full  sun- 


112     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

shine,'  so  now  the  children  share  in  part  the  gen- 
eral Friday  holiday  of  Mohammedanism. 

**The  factory  owners  are  glad  to  get  the  chil- 
dren, for  they  say  children  work  better  than 
grown-up  people  at  carpet-making,  and  of  course 
they  expect  less  wages.  But  how  can  the  parents 
allow  their  children  to  live  this  cruel  life!  You 
will  find  the  answer  in  the  Persian  saying  that 
*of  every  three  persons  in  Kirman,  four  smoke 
opium.'  .  .  .  Over  and  over  again  comes  the  ter- 
rible story,  the  father  and  mother  smoke  opium; 
the  little  deformed  child  toils  through  the  long 
days  to  earn  the  money  that  buys  it." 


IV 
THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD 


"  Do  you  remember  the  time  when  you  were  twelve  ?  To  many 
that  is  the  most  important  moment  of  life;  a  time  of  angelic 
purity.  The  mind  is  no  longer  dormant;  it  is  able  to  see  and 
understand;  it  sees  that  God  is  good,  and  that  to  serve  Him 
is  to  reign  with  Him.  Yes,  at  that  age,  men  believe  in  heaven; 
they  are  alive  to  the  beauty  of  heavenly  things;  they  still  know 
how  to  kneel  down." — Henri  Perbeyve — "  Discours  sur  I'Histoire 
de  France." 

"But  there  is  another  side  to  education  in  the  East,  for  us 
a  picturesque  side,  although  picturesque  with  ignorance  and  cor- 
ruption. The  kuttabs  may  be  said  to  be  the  basis  of  the  educa- 
tional system,  yet  the  teachers  in  them  are  a  by^;^'ord  every- 
where for  sloth,  immorality,  greed,  and  ignorance.  The  scholar 
Islam  has  always  respected;  but  upon  the  schoolmaster  it  has 
always  looked  down,  as  feeble  of  wit&  and  low  of  conduct." — 
D.  B.  Macdonau) — "Aspects  of  Islam." 


IV 

THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD 

THE  Moslem  idea  of  the  innocence  of  child- 
hood is  expressed  by  them  when  they  say 
that  the  mind  of  children  is  like  a  clean 
tablet,  equally  open  to  any  sort  of  inscription.  It 
is  not  generally  known  that  Moslems  deny  orig- 
inal sin  in  any  sense  of  the  word.  Sin,  accord- 
ing to  most  Moslem  authorities,  is  not  an  inher- 
itance, but  a  conscious  act  committed  against 
known  law  by  one  who  has  attained  years  of  dis- 
cretion. Therefore  sins  of  ignorance  are  not  con- 
sidered matters  of  guilt.  In  al-Ghazali's  great 
work,  **The  Revival  of  the  Sciences  of  Religion'' 
(Vol.  Ill,  p.  53),  there  is  a  special  section  on 
the  method  for  the  education  of  boys  and  the  im- 
provement of  their  moral  character.  Nothing  is 
said  in  regard  to  girls.  It  is  generally  considered 
inadvisable  by  all  old  Moslem  authors  to  teach 
girls  how  to  read  and  write,  and  the  omission  in 
al-Ghazali  is  therefore  significant.  He  begins 
his  chapter  as  follows : 

**It  is  most  important  to  know  how  to  bring  up 
a  boy,  for  the  boy  is  a  trust  in  the  hands  of  his 

115 


116     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

father,  and  his  pure  heart  is  a  precious  jewel 
like  a  tablet  without  inscription.  It  is  therefore 
ready  to  receive  whatever  is  engraved  upon  it, 
and  turns  to  whatever  direction  it  is  inclined.  If 
he  learns  to  do  good  and  is  taught  it,  he  grows  up 
accordingly,  and  is  happy  in  this  world  and  the 
next;  and  his  parents  and  teachers  will  have  the 
reward  for  their  action.  But  if  he  learns  evil  and 
grows  up  in  neglect  like  the  dumb  cattle,  he  will 
turn  away  from  the  truth  and  perish,  and  his 
sin  will  be  on  the  neck  of  his  guardian.  Allah 
has  said,  O  ye  who  believe,  guard  yourselves  and 
your  family  from  the  fire ;  and  even  as  the  father 
would  guard  his  son  from  the  fire  of  this  world, 
by  how  much  the  more  should  he  guard  him  from 
the  fire  of  the  world  to  come  1  He  will  guard  him 
from  it  by  chastising  him  and  educating  him  and 
teaching  him  the  best  virtues.  To  this  end  he 
will  only  give  his  boy  to  be  nursed  by  a  good, 
pious  woman  who  eats  the  proper  food,  for  the 
milk  from  forbidden  food  has  no  blessing  in  it.'' 

He  then  goes  on  to  show  that  the  education  of 
a  child  consists  in  teaching  him  table  manners,  the 
avoidance  of  unclean  food,  gluttony,  and  impolite- 
ness. He  advises  parents  to  dress  their  children 
simply  and  not  in  costly  clothing.  To  quote  once 
more: 

**  After  teaching  him  these  things  it  is  wise  to 
send  him  to  a  school  where  he  shall  learn  the 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       117 

Koran  and  the  pious  traditions,  and  the  tales  of 
the  righteous  and  their  lives,  in  order  that  a  love 
of  the  pious  may  be  imprinted  in  his  heart;  and 
he  should  be  kept  from  reading  erotic  poetry  and 
prevented  from  mixing  with  those  people  of  edu- 
cation who  think  that  this  sort  of  reading  is 
profitable  and  elevating,  because,  on  the  contrary, 
it  produces  in  the  hearts  of  children  the  seeds  of 
corruption.  Whenever  the  boy  shows  a  good 
character  or  an  act  which  is  praiseworthy,  he 
must  be  honoured  for  it  and  rewarded,  so  that 
he  will  be  happy;  and  this  should  especially  be 
done  in  the  presence  of  others.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, he  should  act  otherwise  once  and  again,  it 
is  necessary  to  take  no  notice  of  it,  nor  to  lay 
bare  his  fault,  as  though  you  imagine  no  one 
would  dare  to  do  such  a  thing,  especially  if  the 
boy  himself  conceals  it,  and  has  determined  to 
hide  it;  for  exposing  would  only  make  him  more 
bold  in  the  future.  If  he  should  repeat  the  fault, 
he  can  be  punished  in  secret. ' ' 

Such  is  the  strange  ethical  teaching — a  min- 
gling of  good  and  bad  advice — on  the  part  of  one 
who  has  always  been  considered  as  the  pillar  of 
orthodoxy  and  the  great  authority  on  Moslem 
morals.  Al-Ghazali  contains  many  things  that 
are  worthy  of  note.  Among  others,  he  speaks  of 
the  tablet  of  the  child's  mind  in  this  fashion: 
**Good  teaching  is  like  the  carving  on  the  rock, 


118     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

not  easily  effaced ;'*  and  again,  ** Mohammed  the 
prophet  said,  Every  one  that  is  born  is  born  with 
a  natural  capacity  for  the  true  religion.  His 
parents  turn  him  into  a  Jew,  or  a  Christian,  or  a 
Zoroastrian. " 

All  these  counsels  of  perfection,  however,  have 
not  been  widely  accepted.  Mohammedan  chil- 
dren the  world  over  are  neglected  utterly,  both  as 
regards  moral  and  intellectual  training.  Most  of 
them  have  had  no  opportunity  whatever.  The  il- 
literacy of  Moslem  lands, — even  those  lands  which 
have  had  the  religion  of  the  Prophet  as  their  own 
for  thirteen  centuries — is  as  surprising  as  it  is 
appalling.  One  would  think  that  a  religion  which 
makes  so  much  of  its  sacred  Book,  and  which  at 
one  time  was  the  mistress  of  science  and  litera- 
ture, would,  in  its  onward  sweep,  have  enlight- 
ened the  nations  and  raised  the  standard  of 
literacy.  Facts,  however,  are  stubborn  things. 
Careful  investigations  show  that  from  eighty-five 
to  ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  Moslems  in  Africa 
are  unable  to  read  or  write,  and  the  conditions  in 
Asia  are  not  much  better.  In  India  8,700,000 
Moslems  are  of  school-going  age,  but  only  1,550,- 
000  are  found  in  schools;  and  some  of  these 
schools  are  classified  in  the  returns  on  education 
as  **bad  or  indifferent."  The  total  number  of 
illiterates  among  the  Mohammedans  of  India,  in- 
cluding   Burma    (according   to    the    Census    of 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       119 

1900),  was  59,674,499,  or  over  ninety-six  per  cent 
of  the  total  Mohammedan  population.  The  Mos- 
lems of  India  are  considered  a  backward  class. 
From  South  India  we  hear  therefore  that  by  gov- 
ernment order  all  Moslem  children  are  admitted 
into  government  and  private  schools  at  one-half 
the  regular  fees  for  others.  In  Kashmir  they 
have  made  so  little  progress  in  education  that  all 
the  higher  posts  are  filled  with  Hindus.  The 
figures  of  the  last  census  (1911)  show  the  con- 
trast : 

^*0f  every  1,000  adults,  61  Hindus  and  8  Mo- 
hammedans are  literate.  Of  every  100  boys  of 
school-going  age,  14  Hindus  and  2  Mohammedans 
attend  school.  As  yet  no  Kashmiri-born  Moham- 
medan has  secured  the  B.A.  degree.'' 

A  missionary  from  Kashmir  reports  that  only 
five  per  cent  of  the  population  can  read,  and  that 
during  eighteen  years'  residence  in  the  country, 
he  met  only  five  or  six  women  who  could  read  an 
ordinary  book. 

The  illiteracy  of  childhood  is  undoubtedly  due 
in  a  large  measure  to  the  utter  illiteracy  of  Mo- 
hammedan womanhood.  In  Egypt,  according  to 
the  last  census,  only  three  women  out  of  a  thou- 
sand can  read,  and  as  these  statistics  include  the 
Coptic  population,  the  illiteracy  of  Moslem 
womanhood  is  still  greater  than  this  appalling 
statement  would  indicate.      The  Census  Return 


120     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

goes  on  to  say:  **The  Copts  have  a  very  much 
higher  proportion  of  literates  than  the  Moslems; 
male  literates  per  thousand  being  2.5  more 
numerous,  and  female  literates  per  thousand 
eight  times  more  numerous.''  According  to 
the  same  census,  the  total  number  of  Moslem 
children  between  ten  and  fourteen  years  of 
age  was  1,098,372,  and  of  this  number  only 
64,191  boys  and  3,005  girls  were  able  to  read. 
If  such  are  the  facts  in  regard  to  India 
and  Egypt,  both  of  which  countries  have  had  ex- 
ceptional contact  for  a  considerable  period  with 
the  West,  and  have  always  been  considered  among 
the  foremost  Moslem  countries  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  what  shall  we  say  of  less  favoured  lands 
such  as  Morocco,  Tripoli,  and  Afghanistan?  Il- 
literacy here  among  women  and  girls  is  almost 
universal,  and  the  school  system — such  as  it  is — 
most  primitive. 

With  illiteracy  and  ignorance  goes  their  twin 
sister  superstition.  The  Moslem  child  every- 
where and  in  all  circumstances  is  born  into  a 
world  of  superstition.  This  is  true  of  the  child 
of  the  Amir  of  Afghanistan  as  well  as  of  the  slave 
child  in  the  Sudan ;  of  those  in  China  as  well  as  of 
those  in  Morocco.  A  world  of  spiritual  beings, 
angels,  jinn,  demons,  and  devils,  is  all  about  him, 
to  be  feared  and  propitiated,  or  to  be  welcomed 
and  honoured.     The   Mohammedan  doctrine   of 


ANOTHER  ALGERIAN  TYPE 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       121 

angels  and  devils  is  not  a  theoretical  one,  as  it 
has  so  largely  become  in  our  Western  world,  but 
is  intensely  practical,  dominant,  and  potent. 
Every  grotesque  and  gruesome  detail  of  Koranic 
teaching  has  its  powerful  effect  on  the  mind  of 
the  little  child.  The  veil  that  hides  this  spirit 
world  is  almost  transparent  even  in  the  daytime. 
The  unexpected  may  always  happen,  and  spirit 
with  spirit  may  meet  on  the  least  provocation. 
But  when  night  falls  or  fear  overcomes  or  pun- 
ishment threatens,  then  the  veil  is  wholly  rent 
asunder,  and  the  poor  little  child  stands  in  dread 
of  nameless  shapes  and  forms  and  terrors. 

Islam  teaches  that  angels  are  very  numerous, 
and  in  addition  to  Gabriel,  Michael,  and  Israfil, 
who  will  sound  the  last  trumpet,  Israil  is  the 
angel  of  death  who  carries  away  the  souls  of  little 
children  as  well  as  of  older  people.  There  are 
two  recording  angels  for  each  child,  who  sit  on  his 
right  and  left  shoulder  and  record  all  the  good 
and  ill.  Mohammed  therefore  enjoined  his  peo- 
ple not  to  spit  in  front  or  on  the  right,  but  over 
the  left  shoulder,  as  on  that  side  stands  the  re- 
cording angel  of  evil.  Munkar  and  Nakir  are 
two  black  angels,  terrible  of  aspect,  with  blue 
eyes,  who  question  those  buried  in  the  grave  and 
beat  with  harsh  blows  those  whose  replies  are  not 
satisfactory.  There  are  a  host  of  guardian  angels 
whose  names  are  written  on  amulets;  eight  spe- 


12a     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

cial  angels  carry  the  throne  of  Allah,  and  nine- 
teen have  charge  of  the  fires  of  hell.  The  forty- 
sixth  and  seventy-second  chapters  of  the  Koran 
tell  something  about  the  jinn,  spirits  created  of 
fire  and  of  diverse  shapes,  which  marry  and  carry 
on  good  or  ill  until  they  too  are  taken  away  by 
death. 

The  stories  of  these  jinn  in  the  **  Arabian 
Nights"  deceive  no  child  of  the  Western  world, 
but  Moslems  believe  in  them,  and  know  from  the 
Koran  itself  not  only  that  they  exist  but  that  the 
prophet  Solomon  sealed  some  of  them  up  in  brass 
bottles.  They  listened  to  Mohammed's  preaching 
and  were  converted  to  Islam.  They  frequent  wells, 
ruined  houses,  baths,  and  love  the  dark.  Their 
chief  abode  is  in  the  mountains  of  Kaf  which  sur- 
round the  world.  One  of  the  first  prayers  a  Mos- 
lem child  is  taught  is  a  prayer  for  delivery  from 
the  power  of  these  evil  spirits. 

These  jinn  are  of  three  kinds,  according  to  Mo- 
hammed: those  which  fly  in  the  air,  those  which 
resemble  snakes,  and  others  are  like  men.  Mo- 
hammed, we  are  told  in  Moslem  books  of  theology, 
once  said,  **A  wicked  genius  came  suddenly  upon 
me  last  night  desiring  to  disturb  me  in  prayer, 
so  I  strangled  him  and  wished  to  tie  him  to  one 
of  the  columns  of  the  mosque ! ' '  Another  tradi- 
tion relates: 

**We  went  out  on  the  pilgrimage,  and  when  we 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD      US 

reached  al-'Arj,  we  saw  a  snake  quivering,  which 
not  long  afterwards  died.  One  of  the  men  among 
us  took  out  for  it  a  piece  of  cloth  in  which  he 
wrapped  it  up,  and  then  digging  a  hole  buried 
it  in  the  ground.  We  then  proceeded  to  Mecca 
and  went  to  the  sacred  mosque,  where  a  man 
came  to  us  and  said,  *  Which  of  you  is  the  person 
that  was  kind  to  'Amr  bin  JabirT  Upon  which 
we  replied,  ^We  do  not  know  him.'  He  then 
asked,  ^  Which  of  you  is  the  person  that  was  kind 
to  the  jannf  and  they  replied,  ^This  one  here,' 
upon  which  he  said  to  him,  *May  God  repay  you 
good  on  our  account!  As  to  him  (the  serpent 
that  was  buried),  he  was  the  last  of  the  nine  genii 
who  had  heard  the  Koran  from  the  lips  of  the 
Prophet.'  "    (Hayat  ul-Hayawan.) 

Equally  grotesque  and  terrifying  to  the  mind 
of  a  child  is  the  Moslem  doctrine  of  devils.  Satan, 
called  IhliSj  was  expelled  from  Paradise  because 
he  refused  to  prostrate  before  Adam  when  God 
commanded  it.  (Surah  7:10-17.)  He  became  so 
angry  that  a  splinter  of  fire  flew  off  from  him,  out 
of  which  God  created  his  wife.  His  demonic 
progeny  is  as  numerous  as  it  is  terrible.  **  Among 
them  are  Lakis;  Walhan,  who  is  the  presiding 
devil  over  ablution  and  prayer;  al-Haffaf,  who 
is  the  presiding  devil  over  deserts  and  the 
causer  of  bitterness  (or  sorrow),  on  which  ac- 
count he  has  obtained  his  sobriquet  Ahu-murrah; 


1^4.     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Zalambur,  who  presides  over  markets  and  causes 
to  look  beautiful  (in  the  eyes  of  men)  the  talking 
of  nonsense,  a  false  oath,  and  the  praise  of  mer- 
chandise; and  Bathr,  who  presides  over  misfor- 
tunes and  causes  to  appear  beautiful  (in  the  eyes 
of  men)  the  scratching  of  faces,  the  slapping  of 
cheeks,  and  the  picking  of  pockets." 
'  Against  this  world  of  iniquity,  these  spirits  that 
walk  and  work  in  darkness,  the  Moslem  mother 
tries  to  protect  her  infant,  as  well  as  herself,  by 
the  use  of  charms,  talismans,  and  amulets.  From 
every  part  of  the  Moslem  world  the  testimony 
comes  of  the  universality  of  this  practice,  its 
degrading  character,  and  of  crafty  priests  and 
leaders  who  batten  upon  the  superstitious  fear  of 
the  people. 

All  sorts  of  things  are  used  as  amulets,  and 
their  use  is  justified  by  the  saying  of  Mohammed 
himself  (Mishkat  21:1) :  *^  There  is  no  wrong  in 
using  charms  and  spells  so  long  as  you  do  not 
associate  anything  with  God."  The  most  common 
things  used  as  amulets  are  a  small  Koran  sus- 
pended in  a  silver  case;  words  from  the  Koran 
written  on  paper  and  carried  in  a  leather  recepta- 
cle ;  the  names  of  Allah  or  their  numerical  value ; 
the  names  of  Mohammed  and  his  companions; 
precious  stones  with  or  without  inscriptions; 
beads;  old  coins;  clay  images;  the  teeth  of  wild 
animals ;  holy  earth  from  Mecca  or  Kerbela  in  the 


A    CHILD    WITH    ITS   PxVTHER 


A  type  of  the  Egyptian  Fellaheen.  The  total  population  of 
Egypt  is  11,287,359;  of  these  95  per  cent,  are  Moslem. 
Notice  the  number  of  amulets  on  the  little  fellow's  neck. 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       125 

shape  of  tiny  bricks,  or  in  small  bags.  "When  the 
Kaaba  covering  at  Mecca  is  taken  down  each  year 
and  renewed,  the  old  cloth  is  cut  up  into  small 
pieces  and  sold  for  charms. 

In  Sierra  Leone,  West  Africa,  we  are  told  that 
the  first  step  used  by  Moslem  missionaries  in 
gaining  an  influence  over  the  people  is  by  making 
and  selling  cabalistic  charms,  fetish-like  amulets, 
and  magical  remedies,  which  generally  consist  of 
Arabic  formulas  taken  from  the  Koran.  Some 
are  written  upon  pieces  of  paper,  to  be  fastened 
to  the  walls  of  houses,  or  sewn  in  small  leather 
encasements  to  be  worn  on  different  parts  of  the 
body.  Among  the  Mohammedan  Hausas  familiar 
spirits  are  supposed  to  be  associated  with  the  life 
of  each  individual.  These  evil  spirits  are  called 
hori.  In  his  book,  **The  Ban  of  the  Bori,"  Major 
Tremearne  shows  how  completely  the  lives  of  the 
Hausas,  from  birth  to  death,  are  under  the  dom- 
inance of  their  beliefs  in  these  spirits.  The  dif- 
ferent classes  of  demons  are  described  in  detail 
in  this  most  interesting  book,  in  which  the  author 
also  passes  under  review  the  family  relationships 
and  every-day  pursuits  of  the  Hausa  communities 
with  which  he  is  dealing,  and  shows  the  practical 
influence  of  these  magical  beliefs.  Similar  con- 
ditions prevail  in  other  parts  of  Africa  also. 

Mr.  P.  Marty,  writing  in  the  Revue  du  Monde 
Musulman  concerning  the  amulets  used  in  Sene- 


126     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

gal  (June,  1914),  shows  how  the  Islamization  of 
animistic  amulets  is  one  of  the  main  processes 
by  which  the  Moslem  religion  penetrates  and 
spreads  among  tribes  in  that  part  of  Africa.  The 
volumes  of  this  important  magazine  contain  a 
whole  series  of  articles  on  the  use  of  amulets  and 
Moslem  superstitions  connected  with  the  same, 
among  the  Moros  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  the 
Persians,  the  Javanese,  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra, 
and  Moslems  everywhere.  Especially  noteworthy 
is  the  article  by  Antoine  Cabaton  in  Vol.  VIII,  pp. 
370-397,  which  opens  up  a  whole  world  of  supersti- 
tion. *  *  In  Kashmir, ' '  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Walter, 
**both  men  and  women  are  covered  with  charms  of 
every  description  and  for  every  conceivable  end, 
sold  to  them  by  the  industrious  mullahs,  whose 
chief  business  it  is  to  deal  in  them.  I  used  to 
watch  one  of  them  going  on  his  weekly  rounds 
among  the  boatmen  of  my  own  and  neighbouring 
boats,  always  finding  the  trade  good,  and  appear- 
ing to  be  quite  the  most  prosperous  personage  on 
the  horizon.'' 

Many  of  the  portraits  of  Moslem  children  from 
all  lands  here  given,  illustrate  this  custom.  The 
girl  from  Kordof an,  for  example,  has  little  cloth- 
ing except  her  talisman,  the  Tartar  child  wears 
hers,  and  so  do  the  children  from  Morocco  and 
Persia,  while  the  little  Egyptian  boy  has  enough 
amulets  to  make  a  high  priest's  breastplate. 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       127 

According  to  the  principles  of  Islam  only 
verses  from  the  Koran  should  be  used,  but 
the  door  of  superstition  once  being  set  ajar 
by  Mohammed  himself,  as  we  know  from  the 
story  of  his  life,  it  is  now  wide  open.  The 
chapters  from  the  Koran  which  are  most 
often  selected  for  use  as  amulets  and  put  in 
small  cases  are  Surahs  1,  6,  18,  36,  44,  55,  67, 
and  78.  There  are  ^ve  verses  in  the  Koran 
called  the  verses  of  protection,  Ayat-el-Hifdh, 
which  are  most  powerful  to  defend  from  evil. 
They  read  as  follows:  **The  preservation  of 
heaven  and  earth  is  no  burden  unto  Him*';  **God 
is  the  best  protector'';  **They  guard  him  by  the 
command  of  God'';  ^*We  guard  him  from  every 
stoned  devil";  **A  protection  from  every  rebel- 
lious devil." 

These  verses  are  written  with  great  care  and 
with  a  special  kind  of  ink  by  those  who  deal  with 
amulets,  and  are  sold  for  a  good  price.  The  ink 
used  for  writing  amulets  is  saffron  water,  rose 
water,  orange  water,  the  juice  of  onions,  water 
from  the  sacred  well  of  Zemzem,  and  some- 
times even  human  blood!  It  is  very  important 
that  the  one  who  writes  the  amulet  be  a  holy 
man  in  the  Moslem  sense  of  that  word.  We 
are  told  in  Arabic  books  on  the  subject  (and 
these  books  are  printed  by  the  thousands),  e.g.: 
^*The  diet  of  the  one  who  prepares  charms  de- 


128     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

pends  on  the  kind  of  names  of  God  which  he 
intends  to  write  or  recite.  If  they  are  the  terrible 
attributes  of  Allah,  then  he  must  refrain  from 
the  use  of  meat,  fish,  eggs,  honey,  and  musk.  If 
they  are  His  amiable  attributes,  he  must  abstain 
from  butter,  curds,  vinegar,  salt,  and  amber- 
gris.'' 

One  of  the  most  common  talismans  in  use 
throughout  the  world  of  Islam  is  the  one  called 
Buduh.  It  consists  of  a  magic  square,  in  which 
the  numbers  add  up  to  fifteen  in  every  direction, 
expressed  by  the  letters  of  the  Arabic  alphabet. 


4 

9 

2 

3 

5 

7 

8 

1 

6 

-> 

y 

^ 

•» 

J 

t 

1 

J 

Each  letter 
stands  for  the 
number  as  in- 
dicated. 


This  square  is  supposed  to  have  been  revealed 
to  al-Ghazali,  and  is  now  known  by  his  name. 
It  has  become  the  foundation  and  starting-point 
for  a  whole  science  of  talismanic  symbols.  Some 
of  the  Moslem  authorities  say  that  Adam  invented 
the  square.  It  is  called  Buduh  because  these  let- 
ters are  the  corner  letters  and'  the  key  to  the  com- 
bination. To  the  popular  mind  this  word  Buduh 
has  become  a  sort  of  guardian  angel,  invoking 
both  good  and  bad  fortune.    The  square  is  used 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       129 

against  stomach  pains,  to  render  one's  self  in- 
visible, to  protect  from  the  evil  eye,  and  to  open 
locks,  but  the  most  common  use  is  to  insure  the 
safe  arrival  of  letters  and  packages. 

There  is  a  whole  science  of  amulets,  exorcism, 
and  Moslem  witchcraft.  One  of  the  learned  men 
of  Bahrein,  Arabia,  some  years  ago  gave  me 
the  standard  work  on  the  subject,  which  has  run 
to  many  editions.  It  is  by  Abu-Abbas  al-Buni, 
and  is  entitled  *^Shems-ul-Muarif.*'  There  are 
many  traces  of  Christian  influence  in  the  later 
development  of  Mohammedanism,  and  the  use  of 
the  cross  as  a  symbol  to  ward  off  evil  is  one  of 
them.  In  Egypt  some  Moslem  children  wear 
silver  crosses  which  have  a  rough  image  of  our 
Saviour  on  one  side  and  a  verse  from  the  Koran 
on  the  other,  to  drive  off  the  devil! 

Among  the  Shiah  Moslems  the  most  common 
amulet  is  called  Nadi-Ali.  It  consists  generally 
of  a  lead  or  silver  plate  with  little  bells  at  the 
bottom,  inscribed  with  these  words : 

"  Cry  aloud  to  Ali ;  he  is  the  possessor  of  wonders. 
From  him  you  will  find  help  from  trouble. 
He  takes  away  very  quickly  all  grief  and  anxiety 
By  the  mission  of  Mohammed  and  his  own  sanctity." 

There  are  innumerable  cases  where  such  amu- 
lets are  used  for  the  cure  of  disease.  The  native 
doctors    firmly   believe   that   when   every   other 


130     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

remedy  fails,  the  Book  of  Allah,  if  properly  ad- 
ministered, internally  or  externally,  will  drive 
away  pain  and  cure  the  patient. 

We  must  not  think  that  this  belief  in  the  power 
of  talismans  and  amulets  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 
From  one  end  of  the  Moslem  world  to  the  other, 
there  is  still  unquestioning  faith  in  the  power  of 
such  religious  magic.  Professor  MacDonald  in  his 
recent  book,  ''The  Religious  Attitude  and  Life  in 
Islam,''  says: 

''Scattered  among  the  educated  classes,  it  is 
true,  you  will  meet  a  good  deal  of  absolute  Vol- 
tairean  unbelief,  but  even  these  individuals  are 
liable  to  set  back  at  any  time.  The  shell  that 
separates  the  Oriental  from  the  unseen  is  still 
very  thin,  and  the  charms  or  amulet  of  the  ma- 
gician may  easily  break  it.  The  world  of  the 
'Arabian  Nights'  is  still  his  world,  and  these 
stories  for  him  are  not  tales  from  wonderland,  but 
are,  rather,  to  be  compared  to  our  stories  of  the 
wonders  and  possibilities  of  science,  such  as  M. 
Jules  Verne  used  to  write  and  which  we  now  owe 
toMr.  H.G.Wells." 

Among  the  most  grovelling  superstitions  are 
those  prevalent  on  the  border-marches  of  Islam, 
among  the  half -pagan  tribes  in  West  and  Central 
Africa.  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  among 
the  Wolofs  and  other  tribes  the  favourite  amulet 
worn  against  the  evil  eye,  disease,  and  death  is 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       131 

the  prepuce  removed  at  circumcision.^  But  older 
Moslem  lands  are  equally  superstitious.  Dr. 
Robert  Kerr,  who  spent  twenty-five  years  in  Mo- 
rocco, devotes  an  entire  chapter  in  his  book  to  the 
subject.  Belief  in  the  evil  eye  prevails  every- 
where. *  *  The  Moors  write  charms,  couplets  from 
the  Koran,  etc.,  and  place  them  over  the  doorways 
and  in  the  rooms  as  a  safeguard.  The  Black  Art 
is  practised  as  a  science  and  is  divided  into  three 
or  four  branches,  each  of  which  has  its  learned 
professors."  More  than  half  of  the  ills  which 
afflict  the  children,  they  believe  are  caused  by  the 
evil  eye.  Doughty,  in  his  ** Arabian  Travels,*' 
gives  many  instances  of  similar  superstitions. 
This  one  is  typical. 

**A  young  mother,  yet  a  slender  girl,  brought 
her  wretched  babe,  and  bade  me  spit  upon  the 
child's  sore  eyes;  this  ancient  Semitic  opinion 
and  custom  I  afterwards  found  wherever  I  went 
in  Arabia.  (Meteyr  nomads  in  el-Kasim  have 
brought  me  bread  and  salt,  that  I  should  spit  in 
it  for  their  sick  friends.)  Her  gossips  followed 
to  make  this  request  with  her,  and  when  I  blamed 
their  superstition  they  answered  simply  that  *  such 
was  the  custom  here  from  time  out  of  mind.' 

^  "  Chez  les  Ouolofs,  le  prepuce  a  comme  araulette  une  valeur 
remarquable  mais  toute  k  fait  specialisee  a  I'int^ress^.  Aussitot 
I'op^ration  de  la  circoncision  achevee,  le  prepuce  est  enferm6 
sanglant  dans  un  pan  du  boubou  que  porte  I'enfant.  Ce  boubou 
est  soigneusement  conserve."  {Revue  du  Monde  Musulman,  June, 
1914;  p.  333.) 


132     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Also  the  Arabians  will  spit  upon  a  lock  which 
cannot  easily  be  opened." 

Concerning  the  many  superstitions  prevalent 
among  the  Moslems  of  India,  the  reader  must  con- 
sult Herklot's  ^'Qanoon-e-Islam''  (London,  1832). 
This  curious  volume  was  prepared  by  a  native 
of  the  Deccan,  and  contains  a  full  and  exact  ac- 
count of  the  various  rites  and  ceremonies  con- 
nected with  Moslem  life  from  the  moment  of  birth 
until  the  hour  of  death.  Many  of  the  practices 
described  are  doubtless  related  to  Hinduism  or 
Animism,  but  nevertheless  they  have  become  the 
daily  environment  of  Moslem  childhood  and  per- 
sist even  today  in  spite  of  the  progress  of  educa- 
tion. The  author  tells  how  the  science  of  exorcism 
is  practised  upon  children,  and  how  demons  of 
illness  are  cast  out.  In  some  cases  they  make  a 
small  wax  doll,  fasten  one  extremity  of  a  hair 
to  the  cro^vn  of  its  head  and  the  other  to  the 
bottom  of  a  cork,  fill  the  bottle  with  smoke,  put 
the  doll  into  it  and  cork  it  up.  The  operator, 
**the  moment  the  demoniac  falls  on  the  ground, 
pulls  out  a  hair  or  two  as  above  stated,  and  con- 
trives to  insert  them  into  the  bottle ;  and  holding 
it  up  to  public  view,  he  exclaims,  *  Behold !  I  have 
cast  the  devil  out  of  the  demoniac  and  confined 
him  in  this  bottle.  There  he  is,  standing  in  the 
middle  of  it,  longing  to  come  out.  Now,  if  you 
give  me  so  much  money,  well  and  good;  if  not, 


TUNISIAN  CHILDREN 

The  small  boy  has  a  native  drum  and  the  larger  girl  has  amulets 
tied  to  her  head-dress. 


THE  MIND  OP  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       133 

I  will  let  him  loose  again. '  Those  foolish  people, 
on  beholding  the  doll  in  the  bottle,  actually  believe 
it  to  be  the  devil  himself,  and  out  of  fear  give 
him  any  sum  of  money  he  asks,  and  get  it  buried 
or  burnt. ' '  The  casting  out  of  demons  is  also  prac- 
tised in  Egypt,  and  so  common  is  this  ceremony 
of  the  Zar  that  children  imitate  it  in  their  play.^ 

**The  demon  in  one  of  the  family  is  a  Chris- 
tian," says  Miss  Thompson  of  Cairo,  *^and  the 
possessed  woman  wears  a  silver  cross  and  a 
crucifix  to  keep  him  happy.  If  she  were  to  take 
these  off  she  would  suffer.  She  also  wears  a  silver 
medallion  with  bells  on  it  and  silver  rings  on  each 
finger,  one  having  a  cross  on  it.  Her  child  danced 
with  the  drums.  A  curious  thing  was  that  this 
woman  spent  a  few  months  in  a  mission  school 
years  ago,  and  she  promised  to  send  her  daughter 
to  be  educated  by  us  in  the  same  building. 

*  *  The  performance  began  when  the  patient  was 
seated  on  the  floor,  by  the  sheikha  drumming 
vigorously  and  chanting  over  her  head.  One 
elderly  relative,  who  was  standing,  began  to  sway 
back  and  forth  and  was  followed  by  the  patient 
and  others.  After  a  period  of  rest,  during  which 
some  smoked,  the  woman  was  told  to  rise,  and  the 
sheikha  held  her  head,  then  each  hand,  the  hem 
of  her  dress,  and  each  foot  over  the  incense  which 
had  been  burned  before  the  food  on  the  tray. 

^  On  the  Zar,  see  The  Moslem  World,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  275-290. 


134     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Ten  or  fifteen  others  had  the  incense  treatment 
in  the  same  way.  This  was  after  the  sheikha  had 
called  on  all  the  mashayikh,  or  demons,  and  had 
repeated  the  Fatiha  about  five  times,  during 
which  the  drums  played  and  all  the  company 
chanted ;  at  a  given  signal  on  the  drums,  each  one 
covered  her  face  with  a  white  veil.  The  patient 
rose  and  began  swaying  and  contorting  her  body 
as  she  went  slowly  around  the  table,  followed  by 
others.  When  a  performer  was  too  vigorous,  an 
onlooker  would  take  a  little  flour  or  salt  and 
sprinkle  it  over  her  head,  following  her  around 
the  circle  to  prevent  her  falling.  In  the  midst 
of  all  the  din  .  .  .  the  patient  at  last  sank  down 
panting,  and  the  sheikha  took  a  large  mouthful 
from  a  bottle  of  rosewater,  and  spattered  it  with 
force  over  each  performer. ' ' 

When  we  remember  that  such  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices as  we  have  described  above  are  prevalent 
everywhere,  and  that  the  women  especially  are 
under  this  iron  bondage,  we  can  imagine  the  effect 
upon  the  growing  mind  of  a  child.  The  teacher  of 
the  mosque  school  himself  believes  most  of  these 
superstitions,  and  as  Professor  MacDonald  re- 
marks, these  men  who  are  set  apart  for  the  train- 
ing of  children  **are  everywhere  a  byword  for 
sloth,  immorality,  greed,  and  ignorance."  Gold- 
ziher, — than  whom  there  is  no  higher  authority, — 
tells  us  that  in  Arabic  literature  their  position  is 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       135 

on  a  level  with  weavers,  blood-letters,  and  other 
despised  trades.  Teachers  were  universally 
spoken  of  as  a  stupid  and  brainless  class,  and  the 
prevailing  attitude  toward  them  was  always  one 
of  extreme  disrespect.  The  phrase  **more  stupid 
than  a  schoolmaster '*  has  passed  into  a  proverb. 
The  Traditions  speak  not  only  of  the  ignorance 
of  teachers  but  of  their  moral  shortcomings.  Mo- 
hammed is  reported  to  have  said,  **  Their  money 
is  forbidden  property,  their  livelihood  is  unjust 
gain,  their  speech  hypocrisy.  * '  The  scandals  con- 
nected with  boys'  schools  from  the  earliest  times 
have  given  rise  to  special  regulations  designed  to 
obviate  suspicion,  such  as,  for  example,  that  no 
pupil  was  to  receive  private  instruction  at  the 
home  of  his  teacher,  but  within  the  sight  of  the 
people.  The  teacher  is  described  as  **one  who 
brandishes  the  whip  and  takes  reward  for  teach- 
ing the  Book  of  God.'' 

The  shackles  of  ignorance  remain  on  the  mind 
of  the  child  even  after  the  boy  has  absorbed  a 
certain  amount  of  so-called  book  learning.  Edu- 
cation does  not  give  freedom.  The  Koran  remains 
the  Procrustean  bed  of  the  human  intellect. 
Everything  bends  to  its  authority,  as  we  shall  see 
when  we  consider  their  method  of  schooling. 

The  education  of  a  boy,  says  tradition,  is  to 
begin  at  the  age  of  four  years,  four  months,  and 
four  days.    On  that  auspicious  day  he  is  taught 


136     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  repeat  the  Bismillah,  or  opening  chapter  of  the 
Koran.  Soon  after  the  child,  if  of  well-to-do  par- 
ents, is  sent  to  a  day  school  and  tanght  the  al- 
phabet. The  school  is  most  probably  a  corner  of 
a  merchant's  shop,  or  an  alcove  in  a  mosque 
without  any  furniture  save  mats  and  rahils 
(small  folding  book-stands,  resembling  a  tiny  saw- 
buck).  The  schoolmaster  sits  on  the  floor  in  the 
midst  of  the  lads,  who  all  drone  out  their  lessons 
at  the  same  time ;  there  is  no  attempt  at  grading 
the  pupils  nor  is  there  order  in  the  schoolroom. 
The  master's  trained  ear  can,  however,  distin- 
guish a  mispronounced  vowel  or  detect  a  word 
omitted  from  Allah's  book,  though  a  score  of 
voices  make  a  confusion  of  tongues  like  Babel. 
One  lad  is  still  at  his  alphabet;  another  has  gone 
as  far  as  Ahjad,  or  the  numerical  value  of  the 
letters;  a  third  is  spelling  out  the  first  Surah; 
while  yet  others  are  reading  from  the  middle  of 
the  Koran  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 

In  Arabia  and  other  lands  untouched  by  mod- 
ern Western  educational  reform,  the  earliest  and 
only  text-book  is  the  Koran  or  portions  of  it 
cheaply  lithographed  on  second-class  paper.  Of 
course  there  are  no  pictures  in  the  Moslem 
primers,  for  tradition  states  that  Mohammed 
cursed  all  who  would  paint  or  draw  men  and 
animals.  Consequently,  their  work  is  held  to  be 
unlawful.     There  is  neither  prayer  nor  singing 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       137 

when  the  school  opens;  all  orthodox  praying  is 
at  daybreak  when  boys  are  fast  asleep,  and  as  for 
singing,  Mohammed  said,  **  Singing  or  hearing 
songs  causeth  hypocrisy  to  grow  in  the  heart  even 
as  the  rain  causeth  corn  to  grow  in  the  field.'' 
(MishkatXXII:9:3.) 

To  the  American  schoolboy,  a  Mohammedan 
school  and  a  Mohammedan  school-book  would  ap- 
pear the  dullest  things  on  earth.  Yet  the  Arab 
boys  seem  to  enjoy  school,  for  there  is  continual 
distraction,  and,  especially  if  the  schoolmaster  is 
a  shop-keeper,  plenty  of  time  for  idling.  While 
a  customer  bargains  or  the  water-carrier  passes, 
or  the  coffee-shop  keeper  pours  out  the  teacher's 
daily  beverage,  naturally  all  eyes  turn  away  from 
their  books.  The  mixed  procession  of  Oriental 
street  life  passes  before  the  schoolroom  (which 
is  nearly  always  open  to  the  street),  like  a  con- 
tinuous panorama — horses,  camels,  drivers,  don- 
keys, veiled  women,  pastry-sellers,  pashas,  sol- 
diers, beggars,  and  Bedouins.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  all  learning  becomes  a  matter  of  rote  and 
that  the  best  memory  receives  the  prize. 

Right  here  we  stumble  upon  the  supreme  fault 
in  their  theory  of  education.  The  memory  is 
trained  to  the  utmost,  while  the  reasoning  powers 
are  left  entirely  undeveloped.  A  Moslem  lad  is 
not  supposed  to  know  what  the  words  and  sen- 
tences mean  which  he  must  recite  every  day;  to 


138     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ask  a  question  regarding  the  thought  of  the  Koran 
would  only  result  in  a  rebuke  or  something  more 
painful.  Even  grammar,  logic,  history,  and  the- 
ology are  taught  by  rote  in  the  higher  Moham- 
medan schools.  Since  orthodoxy  cannot  allow  a 
place  for  private  judgment  in  the  professor's 
chair  there  remains  no  reason  why  pupils  should 
think  for  themselves.  Thousands  of  Moslem  lads 
who  know  the  whole  Koran  by  heart,  cannot  ex- 
plain the  meaning  of  the  first  chapter  in  every- 
day language.  Tens  of  thousands  can  read  the 
Koran  at  random,  in  the  Moslem  sense  of  read- 
ing, who  cannot  read  an  Arabic  newspaper  intel- 
ligently. The  alpha  and  omega  of  knowledge  is 
the  one  hundred  and  fourteen  chapters  of  Allah's 
revelation.  What  need  is  there  for  other  text- 
books? 

Writing  is  taught  by  means  of  a  wooden  slate, 
or  copy-books  made  by  the  teachers.  In  the  moun- 
tain villages  of  Oman  one  may  still  see  the  chil- 
dren writing  on  the  bleached  shoulder-blades  of 
camels  in  the  same  fashion  as  the  verses  of  the 
Koran  were  taken  down  from  the  Prophet's  lips 
before  the  Hejira.  Slates  and  pencils  are  prac- 
tically unknown  in  most  Moslem  schools.  Even 
in  Al  Azhar  University  at  Cairo  the  children  copy 
their  Koran  lessons  on  tin  slates  made  from  the 
empty  cases  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  The 
youngest  child  begins  with  a  reed  pen  and  native 


A  LAD  FROM  TUNIS 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       139 

ink  to  write  on  such  material.  Calligraphy  is  not 
only  a  science,  but  the  chief  fine  art  in  that  part 
of  the  world  which  abhors  painting,  statuary,  and 
music.  To  write  a  beautiful  Arabic  hand  is  the 
height  of  youthful,  scholarly  ambition.  It  is  dif- 
ficult even  to  cut  the  reed  nib  aright,  although 
some  schoolboys  become  adepts  in  this  use  of  the 
penknife.  The  ink  is  generally  made  by  the 
teacher.  It  is  rich,  black,  and  thick,  and  is  made 
from  lampblack,  vinegar,  red  ochre,  yellow 
arsenic,  and  camphor  in  mysterious  proportions. 
A  famous  recipe  for  ink  is  a  family  treasure. 

When  a  boy  has  finished  the  reading  of  the 
whole  of  the  Koran  for  the  first  time  and  has 
learned  the  rudiments  of  writing,  he  graduates 
from  the  primary  school.  On  this  occasion  he 
has  a  rare  holiday.  Dressed  in  fine  clothes,  per- 
haps mounted  on  horseback,  he  visits  the  neigh- 
bours, receives  gifts  and  sweetmeats,  and  brings 
a  handsome  present  to  his  tutor.  If  he  does  not 
intend  to  become  a  doctor  of  divinity  or  of  herbs, 
this  is  the  end  of  his  schooldays  and  the  lad  is 
put  to  learning  a  trade  or  helping  his  parents. 

All  the  maxims  that  relate  to  the  training  and 
instruction  of  the  youth  refer,  of  course,  only  to 
boys.  The  education  of  girls  was  not  anticipated. 
Woman's  sphere  was  marriage  and  the  home,  as 
soon  as  she  passed  out  of  the  portals  of  child- 
hood.   The  Prophet's  sajring  is  frequently  quoted 


140     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  regard  to  girls :  **Do  not  let  them  frequent  the 
roofs,  do  not  teach  them  the  art  of  writing ;  teach 
them  spinning  and  the  chapter  of  the  Koran  called 
En  Nur/'  Goldziher  adds,  after  quoting  this  para- 
graph, **It  is  surely  preposterous  to  regard  this 
surah  as  suitable  for  the  training  of  young  girls, 
containing,  as  it  does,  revelations  which  refer  to 
women  of  known  or  suspected  immoral  life."  It 
is  a  current  saying  that  a  woman  who  is  taught 
to  write  is  like  a  serpent  which  is  given  poison 
to  drink. 

For  a  liberal  education  the  boy  is  sent  to  one 
of  the  higher  schools  in  the  centres  of  Moslem 
learning,  such  as  Cairo,  Baghdad,  or  Damascus. 
Students  of  medicine  obtain  a  smattering  of  the 
natural  sciences  and  then  read  Hippocrates  and 
Avicena  under  their  teachers.  There  is  no  dis- 
secting and  no  practical  experiments  are  carried 
on.  Of  course,  none  of  the  text-books  have  illus- 
trations. Students  of  divinity  pursue  the  follow- 
ing branches  of  study:  Grammatical  inflection, 
syntax,  logic,  arithmetic,  algebra,  rhetoric,  juris- 
prudence, scholastic  theology,  commentaries  on 
the  Koran,  exegesis,  and  finally  tradition  with 
commentaries  thereon.  Next  to  the  Koran  itself, 
and  because  of  it,  the  Arabic  language  is  the  most 
important  centre  of  the  group  of  sciences:  lexi- 
cology, accidence,  derivation,  syntax,  eloquence, 
prosody,   rhyme,    calligraphy,   versification,   and 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       141 

prose  composition, — all  these  require  separate 
study  from  special  treatises;  the  result  in  this 
case  is  a  proud  master  grammarian  who  has  no 
doubt  that  Arabic  is  the  language  of  the  angels 
and  the  only  speech  of  God. 

The  whole  theory  of  Moslem  education  is  so 
thoroughly  bound  up  with  Islam  and  its  require- 
ments that  even  the  government  schools  of  Egypt 
and  Moslem  schools  in  India  have  not  been  able 
to  throw  oif  the  yoke  of  bondage  to  tradition.  In 
consequence,  the  primers  and  reading  books  for 
primary  classes  contain  much  that  a  child  ought 
not  to  know  concerning  the  Moslem  ritual  of  puri- 
fication, etc.  A  primer  used  in  the  Khedivial 
schools  of  Cairo,  for  example,  has  the  following 
contents:  After  an  invocation  upon  God,  the  al- 
phabet is  given;  the  vowel  system  follows  with 
simple  combinations  and  words.  Then  come  the 
names  of  the  parts  of  the  body,  the  five  senses, 
and  six  stories  or  fables.  The  book  concludes 
with  a  summary  of  the  pillars  of  the  Moslem 
religion  and  the  practice  of  jurisprudence,  utterly 
unsuited  to  the  infant  mind;  e.g.,  **It  is  necessary 
for  man  to  believe  that  his  Creator  has  twenty 
attributes.  These  are  existence,  eternity,  ever- 
lastingness,  infinity,  power,  will,  knowledge,  life, 
hearing,  sight,  speech,  etc.  Concerning  the  apos- 
tles, he  must  believe  that  they  are  immaculate  of 
both  greater  and  lesser  sins,  even  as  the  angels." 


142     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

This  brief  theological  lesson  is  followed  by  a 
genealogy  of  the  prophet  Mohammed  both  on  his 
father's  and  mother's  side,  a  list  of  his  children, 
and  then  this  child's  primer  of  thirty-two  pages 
closes  with  a  list  of  the  ninety-nine  beautiful 
names  of  God  and  two  prayers. 

Another  child's  book  which  is  widely  in  use  is 
called  **The  Happiness  of  Beginners  in  the  Sci- 
ence of  Religion."  It  was  printed  at  Cairo  in 
1330  A.H.  by  Sheikh  Mohammed  Amin  el  Kurdi. 
In  the  preface  we  are  told  that  it  is  specially 
suitable  for  young  girls  and  boys,  yet  this  little 
book  could  not  possibly  be  translated  verbatim 
into  English  without  breaking  the  law  against  im- 
moral publications.  The  first  part  of  the  book 
also  treats  of  Moslem  theology,  but  includes  a 
chapter  on  purification  which  is  utterly  unfit  for 
the  mind  of  any  child,  giving,  as  it  does,  all  the 
disgusting  details  of  the  Moslem  ritual  for  mar- 
ried folk,  as  well  as  a  special  section  on  menstrua- 
tion and  childbirth.  In  the  section  on  prayer 
little  children  read  as  follows:  **God  has  com- 
manded His  people  to  observe  five  regular 
prayers,  and  the  guardian  or  the  parent  of  the 
child  is  responsible  that  they  observe  these  times 
of  prayer  faithfully;  and  they  must  teach  them 
its  ritual  before  they  are  seven  years  of  age,  and 
punish  them  with  blows  if  they  do  not  pray  when 
they  have  reached  the  age  of  ten.     Those  who 


A  MOSLEM  BROTHER  AND  SISTER  PROM  BOKHARA 
This  Russian  province  has  a  Mosh'm  population  of  1,250,000. 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD      143 

neglect  their  prayers  shall  be  severely  punished 
unless  they  repent,  and  if  they  continue  to  neglect 
them  shall  be  considered  infidels  and  be  slain  like 
the  rest  of  those  who  have  become  reprobates.' 
Nor  shall  prayer  be  said  over  them  after  death, 
nor  shall  they  receive  Moslem  burial." 

The  Moslems  of  India,  even  those  who  have 
received  a  Western  education,  cling  to  the  same 
ideals.  In  *^The  Muslim  Guide,''  by  Haji  Riaz- 
ud-Din  Ahmed,  late  tutor  to  the  grandson  of  the 
Begum  of  Bhopal,  and  printed  at  Lahore  (third 
edition),  we  read  these  words  in  the  chapter  on 
Prayer : 

**To  perform  prayer  it  is  necessary  to  make 
wuzoo  (ablution).  There  are  four  essentia! things 
in  wuzoo:  (1)  to  wash  the  face  from  the  hairs  at 
the  forehead  down  to  the  chin;  (2)  to  wash  both 
the  hands  up  to  the  elbows;  (3)  to  make  masah 
with  water  at  the  fourth  part  of  the  head;  (4) 
to  wash  both  the  feet  up  to  the  ankles.  If  any 
of  these  parts  are  left  unwashed,  even  to  the 
breadth  of  a  hair,  the  wuzoo  will  not  be  complete. 
The  Prophet  (peace  be  upon  him)  has  taught  ad- 
ditional purification.  .  .  . 

**  There  are  three  essential  things  in  ghusal 
(washing):  (1)  Taking  water  into  the  mouth; 
(2)  purifying  the  nostrils;  (3)  throwing  water 
once  over  the  whole  body.  But  the  Prophet  has 
further  ordered  that,  after  removing  the  unclean- 


144     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

lines s  existing  on  the  body,  wuzoo  should  be  per- 
formed. Ghusal  becomes  necessary  for  both  men 
and  women  on  cohabitation,  as  well  as  in  other 
circumstances  to  be  looked  for  in  religious  books 
treating  specially  of  the  subjects  of  ghusal.  A 
man  without  wuzoo  is  not  to  touch  the  Koran,  but 
he  is  allowed  to  read  it  by  heart ;  but  a  man  requir- 
ing ghusal  should  neither  touch  the  Koran  nor 
read  it  by  heart.  He  is  not  even  allowed  to  enter 
the  mosque,  neither  to  move  round  the  Kaaba  in 
Mecca." 

The  result  of  this  sort  of  religious  training, 
where  sex  education  has  gone  mad,  is  evident 
on  every  hand.  Immoral  ideas  lie  dormant  in 
the  minds  of  even  mere  infants,  and  the  language 
which  they  learn  to  use  is  deplorable.  According 
to  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hoskins,  Moslem  methods 
of  education  are  entirely  antiquated  and  show 
everywhere  the  intolerant  spirit  of  Islam.  **  Mos- 
lem children, ' '  he  writes,  *  *  are  dirty,  diseased,  un- 
trained, knowing  altogether  too  much  for  their 
years  of  things  veiled  in  Christian  lands.  They 
are  inferior  to  even  the  most  ignorant  Christians ; 
the  boys  given  to  nameless  vices,  therefore  un- 
clean and  stunted  intellectually.  Moslem  parents 
are  kind  to  their  children,  but  they  also  teach 
them  to  swear  and  curse  in  fun.  A  little  later 
they  curse  in  earnest,  and  then  ignorant  parents 
resort  to  great  cruelty.     These  are  the  general 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       145 

conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  good 
families  where  parental  discipline  is  of  the  highest 
order,  though  the  relations  of  parents  and  chil- 
dren have  never  anything  of  comradeship." 

There  is  no  light  literature  specially  prepared 
for  children.  The  chief  books  current  in  Moslem 
lands  which  are  accessible  to  children,  and  which 
are  the  basis  of  folklore  and  fireside  gossip,  out- 
side the  Koran,  are  the  following:  Eth-Thalabi, 
**Kusus  al  Anbiya,*'  which  contains  stories  of  all 
the  prophets  and  apostles,  many  of  them  based 
on  tradition,  most  of  them  puerile,  and  nearly  all 
of  them  indecent  in  their  references  to  marriage 
and  home  life;  **The  [unexpurgated]  Arabian 
Nights,"  or  stories  selected  from  them;  Ad- 
Damiri^s  *^ Zoological  Lexicon,"  widely  current 
in  all  Moslem  lands:  a  sort  of  encyclopedia  of 
things  in  heaven  above,  on  the  earth  beneath,  and 
in  the  waters  under  the  earth.  One  has  only  to 
turn  the  pages  of  this  book  in  its  English  trans- 
lation to  see  how  unsuitable  are  Moslem  stories 
for  the  education  of  a  child.  It  is  hard  to  select 
samples,  but  I  will  give  three  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion. Most  of  the  stories  in  this  book  are  un- 
translatable.   Here  are  two  fish  stories: 

*^A1-Kazwini  relates  in  Aja'ih  al-mahhlukat,  on 
the  authority  of  'Abd-ar-Rahman  bin  Harun  al- 
Magrabi,  who  said,  *I  went  on  a  voyage  in  the 
sea  of  Morocco  and  arrived  at  a  place  called  al- 


146     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Bartun.  We  had  with  us  a  Sicilian  boy,  who  had 
with  him  a  fishing-hook;  he  threw  it  into  the  sea 
and  fished  up  with  it  a  fish  about  a  span  in  length. 
We  looked  at  it  and  found  written  on  the  back 
of  its  right  ear,  There  is  no  deity  but  God;  on 
the  back  of  its  neck,  Muhammad ;  and  on  the  back 
of  its  left  ear,  the  apostle  of  God.'  '' 

**The  Imam  Ahmad  relates  in  az-Zuhd,  on  the 
authority  of  Nawf-al-Bakali,  who  said,  *  A  believer 
and  an  unbeliever  once  set  out  for  fishing;  the 
unbeliever  used  to  cast  his  net  and  take  the  name 
of  his  deity  (idol),  upon  which  the  net  used  to  be 
filled  with  fish,  whilst  the  believer  used  to  throw 
his  net  and  take  the  name  of  God,  but  could  not 
succeed  in  getting  anything.  They  did  that  until 
sunset,  when  the  believer  caught  a  fish,  which  he 
took  in  his  hand,  upon  which  it  became  agitated 
and  fell  into  the  water,  so  that  the  believer  re- 
turned without  anything,  whilst  the  unbeliever 
returned  with  his  boat  full.  The  guardian  angel 
of  the  believer  thereupon  became  dejected  and 
said,  **0  Lord,  Thy  believing  servant,  who  asks 
in  Thy  name,  has  returned  without  anything, 
whilst  Thy  unbelieving  servant  has  returned  with 
his  boat  full."  God  said  to  the  guardian  angel 
of  the  believer,  **Come,''  and  then  showed  him 
the  dwelling-place  of  the  believer  in  Paradise, 
saying,  **What  has  befallen  this  my  believing 
servant  will  not  harm  him,  when  he  comes  to 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       147 

possess  this/'  He  then  showed  him  the  dweUing- 
place  of  the  unbeliever  in  hell-fire,  saying,  **  Would 
anything  he  has  found  in  the  world  stand  in  good 
stead  for  himT'  The  angel  replied,  **No,  by  God, 
OLord!''  '  '' 

Here  is  a  better  story,  which  at  least  teaches 
the  evils  of  drink. 

**It  is  related  that,  when  Adam  planted  the 
vine-creeper,  Iblis  came  there  and  slaughtered 
over  it  a  peacock,  and  the  creeper  drank  its  blood. 
When  its  leaves  came  forth,  he  slaughtered  over 
it  an  ape,  and  the  creeper  drank  its  blood.  When 
its  fruit  came  out,  he  slaughtered  over  it  a  lion, 
and  the  creeper  drank  its  blood.  When  its  fruit 
was  fully  ripe,  he  slaughtered  over  it  a  pig,  and 
the  creeper  drank  its  blood.  On  this  account  the 
descriptive  qualities  of  these  four  animals  seize 
a  drinker  of  wine  in  this  way :  when  he  first  drinks 
it  and  it  creeps  into  his  limbs,  his  colour  becomes 
red,  and  he  appears  handsome  as  a  peacock  does ; 
when  the  commencement  of  intoxication  sets  in, 
he  plays,  claps  his  hands,  and  dances  as  an  ape 
does;  when  the  intoxication  becomes  strong,  the 
leonine  quality  comes  upon  him,  and  he  sports 
and  behaves  in  an  annoying  manner  towards  his 
companions  and  talks,  incoherently,  useless  non- 
sense; he  is  then  affected  with  torpor  in  the 
manner  that  a  pig  is  affected  with  it,  seeks  sleep, 
and  the  strings  of  his  strength  become  loose." 


148     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Our  last  story  might  be  called  a  Bible  Story 
for  Moslem  boys  and  girls.  It  is  based  on  the 
second  chapter  of  the  Koran,  and  tells  the  story 
of  the  heifer  there  mentioned. 

**It  is  related  that  it  happened  that  there  was 
a  certain  pious  man  among  the  Beni-Isra'il,  who 
had  an  infant  son  possessing  a  heifer.  He  took 
it  to  a  thicket  and  said,  *  0  God,  I  leave  this  heifer 
in  Thy  charge  for  my  son  until  he  grows  up.' 
The  man  then  died,  and  the  heifer  grew  up  into 
a  middle-aged  cow  in  the  thicket,  but  she  used 
to  run  away  from  everybody  that  saw  her.  When 
the  boy  also  grew  up  and  was  dutiful  to  his 
mother,  he  used  to  divide  the  night  into  three 
portions,  one  of  which  he  devoted  to  prayer,  an- 
other to  sleep,  and  the  third  to  watching  at  the 
head  of  his  mother.  In  the  morning  he  used  to 
go  out,  collect  wood,  and  bring  it  on  his  back  to 
the  market  for  sale;  a  third  of  the  proceeds  of 
it  he  used  to  spend  in  alms,  another  third  in 
feeding  himself,  and  the  remaining  third  he  used 
to  give  to  his  mother. 

*^One  day  his  mother  told  him,  'Your  father 
has  left  for  you  the  legacy  of  a  heifer  in  the 
charge  of  God,  in  such  and  such  a  thicket.  Go 
forth,  therefore,  and  pray  to  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Ishmael,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  to  return  her  to  you. 
The  sign  by  which  she  is  to  be  recognized  is  that 
directly  you  see  her,  you  would  imagine  sun's 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       149 

rays  to  be  proceeding  from  her  skin. '  The  heifer 
was  named  on  account  of  its  beauty  and  yellow- 
colour  al-Mudhahhahah  (the  gilt  one).  The  youth 
then  went  to  the  thicket  and  saw  her  grazing,  upon 
which  he  shouted  out  to  her,  *I  conjure  thee  by 
the  God  of  Abraham,  Ishmael,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  to 
come  to  me.'  The  heifer  thereupon  turned  to- 
wards him  and,  running,  stood  before  him.  He 
then  seized  her  by  her  neck  and  was  about  to  lead 
her,  when  she  spoke  by  the  order  of  God,  *  0  you 
youth,  who  are  so  dutiful  to  your  mother,  ride  me, 
in  which  case  it  would  be  easier  for  yourself. '  The 
youth,  however,  replied,  ^My  mother  has  not  or- 
dered me  to  do  that,  but  she  told  me,  *  ^  Seize  her 
by  the  neck.''  '  The  heifer  thereupon  said,  *By 
the  God  of  the  Beni-Isra'il,  had  you  mounted  me, 
you  could  never  have  had  me  in  your  power;  but 
go  on,  for  even  if  you  order  a  mountain  to  root 
itself  out  and  go  with  you,  it  would  do  it,  on  ac- 
count of  your  dutif ulness  to  your  mother. ' 

**The  youth  then  went  with  her  to  his  mother, 
who  said,  ^You  are  poor  and  have  no  property, 
and  it  is  difficult  for  you  to  collect  wood  in  the 
day  and  to  watch  at  night ;  go  forth  therefore  and 
sell  the  cow.'  He  asked  her,  *For  how  much 
shall  I  sell  her?'  She  replied,  *For  three  dinars, 
but  not  without  consulting  me  first.'  The  price 
of  a  cow  at  that  time  was  three  dinars.  The 
youth  went  with  the  cow  to  the  market,  and  God 


150     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sent  to  him  an  angel  in  order  to  show  His  crea- 
tures His  power  and  to  try  the  youth's  dutiful- 
ness  to  his  mother :  '  Verily,  God  is  knowing  and 
aware/  The  angel  asked  him,  ^For  how  much 
will  you  sell  this  cowT  and  he  replied,  *For 
three  dinars,  but  I  make  the  condition  with  you 
of  my  mother  being  pleased  with  the  bargain.' 
The  angel  said,  ^I  shall  give  you  six  dinars,  if 
you  do  not  consult  your  mother.'  The  youth  re- 
plied, *  Even  if  you  give  me  the  weight  of  the  cow 
in,  gold,  I  shall  not  take  it  without  my  mother's 
consent.'  He  then  returned  to  his  mother  and 
informed  her  of  the  price,  upon  which  she  said  to 
him,  ^Eeturn  and  sell  her  for  six  dinars,  but 
dependent  on  my  consent.'  He  therefore  went 
again  to  the  market,  and  the  angel  came  again 
and  asked  him,  'Have  you  consulted  your 
mother?'  The  youth  replied,  'She  has  ordered 
me  not  to  reduce  the  price  to  anything  less  than 
six  dinars,  but  that,  too,  on  the  condition  of  con- 
sulting her. '  The  angel  then  said  to  him,  '  I  shall 
give  you  twelve  dinars,  provided  you  do  not  con- 
sult your  mother. ' 

''The  youth,  however,  refused,  and  returning 
to  his  mother  informed  her  of  it.  She  said,  '  The 
person  who  comes  to  you  is  an  angel  in  the  guise 
of  a  human  being  to  try  you ;  if  he  comes  to  you 
again,  ask  him,  "Do  you  order  us  to  sell  this  cow 
or  notr'  '     The  youth  did  as  he  was  told,  and 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       151 

the  angel  replied,  'Go  to  your  mother  and  tell 
her,  ^ '  Keep  this  cow,  for  Moses  will  buy  her  from 
you,  on  account  of  the  murdered  man  out  of  the 
Beni-Isra*il,  and  do  not  sell  her  for  less  than  her 
skin  full  of  dinars.''  '  They  therefore  kept  back 
the  cow,  and  God  decreed  for  the  Beni-Isra'il  to 
kill  that  very  cow,  in  compensation  to  the  youth 
for  his  dutifulness  to  his  mother  and  out  of  His 
kindness  and  mercy  (which  happened  in  this 
way) :  The  Beni-Isra'il  kept  constantly  asking  for 
a  description  of  the  cow,  until  this  very  cow  was 
described  to  them/' 

And  lest  the  reader  should  think  that  these 
stories  are  not  truly  representative,  here  is  one 
from  the  Koran  itself — also,  alas!  a  fish  story. 

**And  remember  when  Moses  said  unto  his 
servant  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  I  will  not  cease 
to  go  forward,  until  I  come  to  the  place  where 
the  two  seas  meet;  or  I  will  travel  for  a  long 
space  of  time.  But  when  they  were  arrived  at 
the  meeting  of  the  two  seas,  they  forgot  their 
fish  which  they  had  taken  with  them.  Moses  said 
unto  his  servant,  Bring  us  our  dinner,  for  now 
are  we  fatigued  with  this  our  journey.  His 
servant  answered.  Dost  thou  know  what  has  be- 
fallen me  ?  When  we  took  up  our  lodgings  at  the 
rock,  verily  I  forgot  the  fish;  and  none  made  me 
to  forget  it,  except  Satan  that  I  should  not  remind 
thee  of  it.    And  the  fish  took  its  way  in  the  sea, 


152     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  a  wonderful  manner.  Moses  said,  This  is  what 
we  sought  after.  And  they  both  went  back,  re- 
turning by  the  way  they  came.'' 

And  the  remainder  of  this  curious  story  is  not 
more  intelligible,  as  recorded  in  the  chapter  of  the 
Koran  called  The  Cave — 59-64. 

A  very  curious  side-light  is  thrown  upon  the 
Moslem  idea  of  education,  as  well  as  on  their 
utter  ignorance  of  New  Testament  history,  in 
what  they  say  concerning  the  education  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Mary. 

*^When  Jesus  was  born  and  He  was  a  day  old, 
it  was  as  though  He  was  a  month  old ;  and  when 
He  was  nine  months  old,  His  mother  took  Him 
by  the  hand  and  led  Him  to  the  school  and  placed 
Him  between  the  hands  of  the  teacher;  and  the 
teacher  said  to  Him,  'Say,  Bismillah  er-rahman 
er-rahim. '  Then  Jesus  said  it.  The  teacher  said, 
'Say  Ahjad/  (The  first  word  in  a  mnemonic 
series  containing  the  Arabic  alphabet,  following 
the  ancient  or  numerical  order,  and  used  as 
numerals  by  the  Arabs  until  superseded  by  later 
notation.  Each  word  in  the  series  is  here  inter- 
preted fancifully  with  a  play  on  the  Arabic  root.) 
Then  Jesus  (upon  whom  be  peace)  lifted  up  His 
head  and  said  to  him,  *Do  you  know  what  ahjad 
means?'  Then  the  teacher  lifted  up  his  rod  to 
strike  Him,  and  Jesus  said,  *0  teacher!  do  not 
strike  me  if  you  kngw;  if  you  do  not  know,  ask 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       153 

me,  so  that  I  can  explain  it  to  you.'  Then  the 
teacher  said,  *  Explain  it  to  me.'  And  Jesus  said, 
^Alif  means  that  there  is  no  god  but  God;  the  ha 
stands  for  the  glory  of  God ;  the  jim  for  the  maj- 
esty of  God ;  and  the  dal  for  the  religion  of  God. 
Hawwaz:  Ha  stands  for  hell,  and  the  waw  stands 
for  woe  to  the  people  of  the  fire,  and  the  za  stands 
for  their  groanings  in  hell.  Hatta  signifies  that 
their  sins  can  never  be  forgiven.  Kalman  sig- 
nifies the  Word  of  God  Uncreated  and  Unchange- 
able. Safas  signifies  measure  for  measure  and 
part  for  part.  Karshat  signifies  that  God  will 
collect  them  at  the  time  of  the  resurrection.  Then 
the  teacher  said  to  His  mother,  *0  Woman,  take 
Thy  child,  for  He  knows  everything  and  does  not 
need  a  teacher. '  ' ' 

The  cruel  use  of  the  rod  is  universal  in  the  vil- 
lage school  from  Morocco  to  Afghanistan.  Mar- 
tin writes  that  under  the  Absolute  Amir  there  is 
no  **  sparing  the  rod  and  spoiling  the  child,  and 
when  the  master  wishes  to  punish  one  of  them, 
the  small  offender  is  held  on  his  back,  with  his 
legs  up  in  the  air,  and  receives  so  many  cuts  on 
the  soles  of  his  feet,  and  while  the  punishment 
lasts  he  howls  piteously.  Sometimes  in  passing 
a  school  I  have  stopped,  thinking  a  child  was 
surely  being  murdered,  until  I  saw  the  reason  why 
the  boy  was  howling." 

In  Kashmir,  where  the  vast  majority  of  the 


154     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

population  is  Mohammedan,  we  are  told  that  not 
a  dozen  men  know  Arabic  thoroughly.  They  re- 
cite the  Koran  like  parrots,  and  yet  here  also  the 
Koran  is  taught  by  mullahs  to  boys  from  four 
years  old  and  upward,  who  understand  nothing 
of  its  meaning  and  only  learn  it  by  rote. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  India,  Persia,  Turkey, 
and  other  non- Arabic-speaking  lands,  the  Arabic 
Koran  is  still  considered  the  chief  text-book  of 
religion  and  children  are  taught  its  chapters  with- 
out any  particular  attempt  at  translation  or  inter- 
pretation. Away  from  the  centres  of  population 
and  among  the  nomad  tribes  of  the  Sahara  Des- 
ert, the  Egyptian  Sudan,  Arabia,  Southern 
Persia,  and  Central  Asia,  there  is  no  book 
learning,  but  children  are  trained  from  birth 
in  the  hard  school  of  nomad  life,  fatigue,  and 
danger.  Burckhardt  says  of  Arabia:  **I  have 
seen  parties  of  naked  boys  playing  at  noonday 
upon  the  burning  sand  in  the  middle  of 
summer,  running  till  they  had  fatigued  them- 
selves, and  when  they  returned  to  their  fathers' 
tents  they  were  scolded  for  not  continuing  the 
exercise.  Instead  of  teaching  the  boy  civil  man- 
ners, the  father  desires  him  to  beat  and  pelt  the 
strangers  who  come  to  the  tent ;  to  steal  or  secrete 
some  trifling  article  belonging  to  them.  The  more 
saucy  and  impudent  children  are  the  more  they 
are  praised,  since  this  is  taken  as  an  indication 


THE  MIND  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD       155 

of  future  enterprise  and  warlike  disposition." 
The  children  of  the  desert  have  no  book  save  the 
Book  of  Nature.  Yet  we  may  believe  that  this 
magnificent  picture  book  is  never  more  diligently- 
studied  than  by  those  little  dark  eyes  which  watch 
the  sheep  at  pasture  or  count  the  stars  in  the 
blue  abyss  from  their  perch  on  a  lofty  camePs 
saddle  in  the  midnight  journeyings. 

When  the  nomad  lad  grows  up,  and  begins  to 
swear  by  the  few  straggling  hairs  on  his  chin, 
he  cannot  read  a  letter,  but  he  knows  men  and 
he  knows  the  desert.  The  talk  heard  at  night 
around  the  sheikh's  tent  or  the  acacia-brush  fire- 
side is  much  like  the  wisdom  of  the  book  of  Job. 
A  philosophy  of  submission  to  the  world  as  it  is ; 
a  deification  of  stoicism  or  patience;  a  profound 
trust  that  all  will  end  well  at  last.  Sad  to  say, 
even  the  little  nomads,  with  their  ignorance  of 
all  religion,  share  in  the  fanatical  antagonism  of 
their  elders  toward  the  Christian  religion  and 
Christians.  One  of  their  games,  in  Nejd,  is  to 
draw  a  cross  on  the  desert  and  then  defile  it ;  they 
learn  that  all  outside  the  pale  of  Mohammed's 
creed  are  kafirs,  and  to  please  Allah  are  glad  to 
throw  stones  at  any  wayfaring  Nasrani.  Little 
do  the  Bedouins  and  still  less  do  their  children, 
however,  know  of  the  religion  of  Islam.  The 
Koran  is  not  a  book  for  children's  minds,  and  of 
such  is  not  the  kingdom  of  Mohammed. 


156     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

When  we  consider  the  present  condition  of  this 
world  of  childhood,  its  utter  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion, illiteracy,  this  horror  of  a  great  darkness 
hanging  over  Moslem  hearts  and  homes,  there 
rises  before  us  the  picture,  familiar  to  all  who 
have  seen  the  East,  of  the  debtor  or  the  beggar 
climbing  to  the  top  of  the  minaret  to  ask  for 
alms.  How  well  I  remember  hearing  such  a  cry 
of  need  from  the  crumbling  minarets  on  the 
island  of  Bahrein:  **Ya  mal  Allah!  Ya  hak 
Allah!'' — **Give  me  God's  own!  Give  me  God's 
due ! "  If  Moslem  childhood  could  voice  its  own 
need,  such  would  be  its  cry. 


"  In  shadow  of  a  crumbling  mosque  he  stands. 
An  aged  mendicant  with  want  outworn, 
Eyes  from  their  sunken  sockets  ruthless  torn, 
For  crimes  in  lawless  youth — for  so  demands 
The  cruel  Moslem  code.     With  trembling  hands 
Outheld  for  aid,  he  only  lives  to  mourn 
Till  kindly  death  beyond  the  earthly  bourn 
Shall  carry  him  at  last  and  loose  his  bands. 
To  motley  crowds  that  careless  come  and  go 
He  murmurs,  *  Give  me  what  belongs  to  God.' 
That  cry  proclaims  the  debt  that  Christians  owe 
His  country  where  Mohammed's  legions  trod. 
And  with  the  sword  their  creed  unholy  spread, 
Robbing  her  children  of  the  Living  Bread." 


MORAL    TRAINING    AND    NEGLECT 


"Verily,  a  lie  is  justifiable  in  three  cases:  to  women,  in  war, 
and  to  patch  up  a  quarrel  between  friends." — Mohammed. 

"  The  moral  sense,  in  its  objective  form,  is  still  very  incomplete 
in  little  children,  even  between  the  ages  of  two  and  four.  They 
have,  however,  a  very  advanced  idea  of  what  is  allowed  and 
what  forbidden,  of  what  they  must  or  may,  and  what  they  must 
not  do,  as  regards  their  physical  and  moral  habits.  Moral  law 
is  for  them  embodied  in  their  parents,  in  the  mother  especially, 
even  during  their  absence." — Bernard  Perez  in  "  The  First  Three 
Years  of  Childhood." 

"Man  is  the  absolute  master  and  woman  the  slave.  She  is 
the  object  of  his  sensual  pleasures,  a  toy,  as  it  were,  with  which 
he  plays,  whenever  and  however  he  pleases.  Knowledge  is  his, 
ignorance  is  hers.  The  firmament  and  the  light  are  his,  darkness 
and  the  dungeon  are  hers.  His  is  to  command,  hers  is  to 
blindly  obey.  His  is  everything  that  is,  and  she  is  an  insignificant 
part  of  that  everything." — ^Kasim  Bey  Amin  of  Cairo,  in  his 
book  "The  New  Woman." 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT 

SUCH  moral  training  as  is  given  to  the  child 
of  Mohammedan  parents  is  necessarily- 
based  on  their  own  ideas  and  ideals  of  ethics. 
If  Christian  ethics  is  conditioned  by  our  faith 
in  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
ideals  of  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  an 
equal  degree  Moslem  ethics  is  based  upon  the 
Koran  and  the  moral  character  of  Mohammed. 
In  this  again  we  see  the  unity  of  Islam.  How- 
ever different  the  environment,  the  stage  of  prog- 
ress, or  the  degree  of  civilization,  all  Moham- 
medans everywhere  believe  that  ideal  virtue  is  to 
be  found  through  imitation  of  Mohammed,  that 
the  moral  law  is  recorded  in  the  precepts  of  the 
Koran,  and  that  the  highest  good  for  the  individ- 
ual and  for  the  community  consists  in  what  Islam 
offers  for  this  life  and  the  life  to  come. 

In  considering  the  moral  training  of  a  child, 
therefore,  we  must  first  study  the  moral  concepts 
of  this  religion  which,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Robert 
E.  Speer,  *4s  held  by  many  who  have  to  live 
under  its  shadow  to  be  the  most  degraded  reli- 

159 


160     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

gion,  morally,  in  the  world.  Missionaries  from 
India  will  tell  you  that  the  actual  moral  condi- 
tions to  be  found  among  Mohammedans  every- 
where are  more  terrible  than  those  to  be  found 
even  among  the  pantheistic  Hindus  themselves. ' ' 
And  Adolph  Wutke,  in  his  '^System  of  Ethics,'* 
speaks  of  Islam  as  an  **  attempt  of  heathenism  to 
maintain  itself  erect  under  an  outward  monothe- 
istic form." 

The  Moslem's  idea  of  God  and  of  His  moral 
attributes  differs  widely  from  that  of  the  Chris- 
tian. His  conception  of  sin  is  different,  and  the 
division  of  sins  into  great  and  little,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  there  is  no  clear  distinction  between 
the  ceremonial  and  the  moral  law,  have  an  evil 
tendency  in  the  sphere  of  ethics.  All  sins  except 
great  ones  are  easily  forgiven,  because  God  is 
merciful  and  clement.  Dr.  George  F.  Herrick, 
after  fifty  years'  experience  in  Turkey,  says: 

**The  Moslem's  apprehension  of  the  moral  at- 
tributes of  God  differs  widely  from  that  of  the 
Christian.  Paternal  love  has  no  place  in  his  view 
of  God.  According  to  Islam,  mercy  and  justice 
have  no  relation  one  to  the  other.  Sin  is  not 
guilt,  but  weakness,  and  is  forgiven  through  pity 
to  the  formally  penitent.  Religion  and  life  are 
strangers  one  to  the  other." 

But  this  must  not  surprise  us  in  the  history  of 
Moslem  morals.     A  stream  cannot  rise  higher 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      161 

than  its  source.  A  tower  cannot  be  broader  than 
its  foundation.  The  measure  of  the  moral  stature 
of  Mohammed  is  the  source  and  foundation  of  all 
moral  ideals  in  Islam.  His  conduct  is  the 
standard  of  character.  Every  detail  of  his  life  is 
attributed  to  divine  permission  or  command,  and 
so  what  appear  to  us  as  faults  in  his  character 
are  interpreted  as  special  privileges  or  signs  of 
superiority.  Moslem  boys  and  girls  are  taught 
to  believe  that  God  favoured  their  prophet  above 
all  creatures,  and  his  name  is  never  uttered  by 
them  or  by  their  parents  without  the  addition  of 
these  words,  *^  Mohammed,  upon  him  be  prayers 
and  peace. ' '  Poems  in  praise  of  the  Prophet  are 
read  at  festivals,  sung  by  travelling  dervishes, 
and  printed  in  books  of  devotion.  Here  is  an 
example  of  those  current  in  China,  and  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  by  the  first  emperor 
of  the  Ming  Dynasty.  It  is  less  extravagant  than 
many  similar  poems  of  Arabic  literature. 


"In  the  beginnings  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
The  records  of  Heaven  recorded  the  name 
Of  the  great  Preacher  and  Prophet, 
Who  was  born  on  the  western  boundaries, 
To  receive  and  transmit  the  heavenly  classic. 
Which  consists  of  thirty  sections  and  records 
For  the  enlightenment  and  instruction  of  all  flesh. 
Millions  own  him  as  Prince  and  Teacher. 
Of  all  Prophets  he  is  the  chief, 
Assisting  the   heavens   in   their  rotation. 
Protecting  and  shielding  the  reigning  sovereign. 


162     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Observing  five  times  for  prayer  each  day, 
Beseeching  for  the  national  peace, 
Retaining  the  true  Lord  in  the  heart. 
Considering  the  poor  with  increasing  care, 
Extending  help  in  times  of  calamity, 
Even  penetrating  to  the  dark  abyss. 
Lifting  up  the  dead  therein, 
Saving  from  the  curse  of  sin, 
Causing  benevolence  to  cover  the  earth  again, 
His  doctrine  now  and  ever  had  fame. 
Subduing  the  depraved  who  turn  to  the  Lord, 
Whose  religion  is  known  as  the  Pure  and  True, 
iWhile  Muhammad  is  its  most  honoured  Prophet." 

(James  Hudson  in  the  National  Review,  Shanghai, 
September  12,  1914.) 


It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  the  details  of 
Mohammed's  life  and  character.  These  are  suf- 
ficiently revealed  not  only  in  the  standard  biog- 
raphies by  Western  scholars,  but  in  the  earliest 
sources  of  Islam  itself, — the  Koran  and  Tradition. 
The  picture  is  anything  but  attractive.  Bos- 
worth  Smith,  who  has  perhaps  written  the  most 
able  apology  for  the  life  of  Mohammed,  and  who 
certainly  cannot  be  accused  of  any  bias,  wrote: 
**The  religion  of  Christ  contains  whole  fields  of 
morality  and  whole  realms  of  thought  which  are 
all  but  outside  the  religion  of  Mohammed.  It 
opens  humility,  purity  of  heart,  forgiveness  of 
injuries,  sacrifice  of  self,  to  man's  moral  nature; 
it  gives  scope  for  toleration,  development,  bound- 
less progress  to  his  mind;  its  motive  power  is 
stronger,  even  as  a  friend  is  better  than  a  king, 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      163 

and  love  higher  than  obedience.  Its  realized 
ideals  in  the  various  paths  of  human  greatness 
have  been  more  commanding,  more  many-sided, 
more  holy,  as  Averroes  is  below  Newton,  Harun 
below  Alfred,  and  Ali  below  St.  Paul.  * ' 

T.  J.  De  Boer  shows  that,  although  the  Koran 
urges  faith  and  good  intentions,  **  unpremedi- 
tated lapses  from  virtue  are  leniently  judged.  In 
short,  Allah  makes  it  no  onerous  task  for  His 
faithful  to  serve  Him.''  Some  have  stated,  and 
not  without  reason,  that  early  Islam  was  abso- 
lutely destitute  of  ethical  spirit,  although  Gold- 
ziher  refuted  this.  The  fact,  however,  remains 
that  the  mass  of  the  people  paid  less  attention  to 
Koran  precepts  than  to  the  actual  life  lived  by 
Mohammed  in  his  Medina  period,  **when  his  love 
was  given  mainly  to  women,  and  the  objects  of 
his  hate  and  greed  were  the  unbeliever  and  his 
possessions.''  Those  who  have  carefully  investi- 
gated Moslem  ethics  agree  that  the  great  bulk 
of  its  moral  precepts  bear  an  external  and  a 
commercial  character.  The  believer  has  an  ac- 
count with  Allah  of  debits  and  credits,  rather 
than  a  record  of  sins  committed  and  forgiven. 

It  is  because  of  these  low  ideals  that  Islam  has 
never  developed  strong  moral  natures.    The  fight \ 
for  character,  the  attainment  of  high  ideals,  the 
crucifixion  of  self, — all  this  is  absent  to  a  degree 
which  is  almost  inconceivable.     As  the  Koran 


164f     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

itself  states,  *^God  desires  to  make  things  easy 
for  men/'  The  tendency  of  Islam  is  to  develop 
a  flabby  moral  nature,  and  this  tendency  is  the 
inheritance  of  Moslem  childhood.  How  different 
is  the  heritage  of  Christian  childhood  as  voiced 
by  the  poet.  We  cannot  even  imagine  a  Moslem 
child  expressing  its  gratitude  in  such  terms,  not 
even  such  children  as  boast  of  their  direct  de- 
scent from  the  holy  Prophet ! 

"I  thank  Thee  for  a  holy  ancestry; 

I  bless  Thee  for  a  godly  parentage; 
For  seeds  of  truth  and  light  and  purity, 
Sown  in  this  heart  from  childhood's  earliest  age. 

**  For  word  and  church  and  watchful  ministry, 
The  beacon  and  the  tutor  and  the  guide; 
For  the  parental  hand  and  lip  and  eye, 
That  kept  me  from  the  snares  on  every  side. 

"  I  thank  the  love  that  kept  my  heart  from  sin. 

Even  when  my  heart  was  far  from  God  and  truth. 
That  gave  me,  for  a  lifetime's  heritage. 
The  purities  of  unpolluted  youth." 

A  startling  revelation  of  the  contrast  between 
Moslem  and  Christian  ideals  in  ethics  can  also  be 
gained  from  a  comparative  study  of  popular  lit- 
erature, the  ** Arabian  Nights,"  for  example,  a 
mediaeval  picture  of  Moslem  life  and  morals,  in 
contrast  with  the  mediaeval  romance  of  the 
** Knights  of  the  Eound  Table.''  Both  books  pre- 
sent unconsciously  a  picture  of  ideas  and  ideals 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      165 

in  ethics.  Womanhood  in  the  one  case  is  sus- 
pected, dishonoured,  untrustworthy,  and  chiefly 
celebrated  for  her  lower  passions;  in  the  other 
case,  her  purity  and  strength  of  character  stand 
out  as  examples  of  moral  greatness. 

The  same  contrast  can  be  seen  between  Shake- 
speare and  Al  Hariri.  The  one,  the  poet  of 
conscience,  ever  preaches  the  truth  that  the 
wages  of  sin  is  death  and  the  reward  of  right- 
eousness, life.  In  the  ^^Makamat"  of  Al  Hariri, 
as  Stanley  Lane-Poole  says,  we  see  *'a  Bohemian 
of  brilliant  parts  and  absolutely  no  conscience, 
who  constantly  extracts  alms  from  assemblies  of 
people  in  various  cities  by  preaching  eloquent 
discourses  of  the  highest  piety  and  morality, 
and  then  goes  off  with  his  spoils  to  indulge 
secretly  in  triumphant  and  unhallowed  revels.'' 
Yet  this  collection  of  poems  is  the  greatest 
literary  treasure  of  the  Arabs,  next  to  the 
Koran.  T.  J.  De  Boer  remarks:  **When  we 
examine  the  representation  of  the  manners 
given  in  the  *  Thousand  and  One  Nights,'  we 
see  little  indication  of  rigorous  conformity  to 
the  law  or  of  any  profound  and  vital  morality. 
We  generally  find  ourselves  in  a  society  whose 
basis  is  largely  sordid  gain  and  whose  life  re- 
volves around  wine,  women,  and  song.  The  peo- 
ple know  the  moral  code  by  heart,  they  indulge  in 
pious  meditations,  but  only  by  way  of  rhetorical 


166     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

embellishment.  .  .  .  We  find  a  society,  in  fact,  that 
fostered  the  virtues  of  worldly  wisdom,  polite 
intercourse,  tolerance,  and  at  the  same  time  prac- 
tised all  the  old  and  prevalent  vices  in  more  re- 
fined forms.'' 

The  Koran  gives  very  little  on  the  teaching 
and  training  of  childhood.  Its  references  sur- 
prise one  by  their  meagre  content  and  low  esti- 
mate of  the  child,  but  later  writers  have  found 
in  the  Prophet's  life  those  ideals  for  childhood 
and  education  concerning  which  the  Koran  is  so 
strangely  silent.  It  would  not  be  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  the  Book  of  Proverbs  contains 
vastly  more  and  vastly  higher  ideals,  both  in 
regard  to  ethics  and  education,  than  does  the  whole 
literature  of  Islam.  The  entire  teaching  of  the 
Koran  on  childhood  is  given  in  less  than  a  dozen 
passages  and  may  be  summed  up  as  follows. 

There  is  strong  disapproval  of  the  horrible 
practice  of  putting  to  death  newborn  girls, 
prevalent  in  the  days  before  Mohammed.  **  Los- 
ers are  they  who  kill  their  children  foolishly, 
without  knowledge. ' '  ( Surah  6 :  137-140. )  This 
matter  is  again  referred  to  in  Surah  6 :  151  and 
Surah  17:31.  **Slay  not  your  children  for  fear 
of  poverty.  We  will  provide  for  them."  ** Be- 
ware to  slay  them.    It  is  a  great  sin." 

The  Prophet  goes  into  detail  concerning  the 
suckling  and  weaning  of  infants.    (Surah  2 :  232.) 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      167 

*^  Mothers   must   suckle   their   children   for   two 
whole  years/' 

/  Children  are  a  blessing  of  God,  as  is  property 
.,  /  and  wealth.  It  is  curious,  however,  to  notice  that 
m  every  passage  wealth  is  mentioned  before  chil- 
dren. *  ^  Know  that  your  wealth  and  your  children 
are  but  a  temptation,  and  thank  God  with  whom 
is  mighty  hire.''  (Surah  8:28;  17:65;  34:35, 
39.)  All  of  these  passages  teach  that  wealth  and 
children  will  not  deliver  the  believer  in  the  day 
of  judgment.  **  Neither  your  kindred  nor  your 
children  shall  profit  you  upon  the  resurrection 
day.  It  will  separate  you."  (Surah  60:3.) 
Children  are  not  only  a  blessing,  but  a  snare  and 
a  temptation.  ^*0  ye  believers,  let  not  your  prop- 
erty nor  your  children  divert  you  from  the  re- 
membrance of  God."  (Surah  63 :  9.)  And  again, 
*  *  0  ye  people,  verily  among  your  wives  and  your 
children  are  foes  of  yours.  So  beware  of  them. 
Your  property  and  your  children  are  but  a  trial. ' ' 
(Surah  64:14.)  **0  ye  folk,  fear  your  God  and 
dread  the  day  when  the  father  shall  not  atone 
for  his  son,  nor  shall  the  son  atone  for  its  par- 
ent."   (Surah  31:  32.) 

There  are  one  or  two  references  to  the  birth 
of  children  (Surah  22:5),  and  in  the  division  of 
the  inheritance  Mohammed  teaches  that  the  boy 
shall  receive  the  portion  of  two  girls.  (Surah 
4: 10.)    All  this,  however,  contains  nothing  in  re- 


168     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

gard  to  the  duties  of  the  child,  nor  its  privileges. 
Two  verses  remain.  In  Surah  24 :  31  and  32,  we 
are  told  that  mothers  need  not  veil  themselves 
before  their  own  children  ^^who  do  not  note  wom- 
en's nakedness'';  and  finally  in  the  same  Surah, 
verse  59,  we  read:  *^When  your  children  reach 
puberty,  let  them  ask  leave  as  those  before  them 
asked  leave."  The  context  shows  that  this  last 
passage  only  signifies  that  children  must  not 
enter  the  harim  without  first  asking  permission! 

The  one  passage  which  gives  a  true  message 
for  children  to  honour  their  parents  occurs  in 
the  chapter  of  the  Night  Journey,  and  reads: 
**Thy  Lord  has  decreed  .  .  .  kindness  to  one's 
parents,  whether  one  or  both  of  them  reach  old 
age  with  thee;  and  say  not  to  them,  *Fie!'  and 
do  not  grumble  at  them,  but  speak  to  them  a 
generous  speech.  And  lower  to  them  the  wing  of 
humility  out  of  compassion,  and  say,  *0  Lord! 
have  compassion  on  them  as  they  brought  me 
up  when  I  was  little.'  Your  Lord  knows  best 
what  is  in  your  souls  if  ye  be  righteous,  and 
verily.  He  is  forgiving  unto  those  who  come  back 
penitent.  And  give  thy  kinsman  his  due  and  the 
poor  and  the  son  of  the  road;  and  waste  not 
wastefuUy,  for  the  wasteful  were  ever  the  devil's 
brothers;  and  the  devil  is  ever  ungrateful  to  his 
Lord." 

The  Koran,  of  course,  inculcates  general  moral 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      169 

duties,  according  to  the  standards  of  Mohammed, 
praises  the  upright,  threatens  unbelievers,  en- 
joins the  care  of  orphans,  obedience  to  parents, 
alms  to  the  poor,  and  kindness  to  the  oppressed. 
But  in  all  this  teaching  there  is  scarcely  any  refer- 
ence to  childhood,  and  as  we  have  already  seen, 
according  to  Moslem  ethics,  the  child  is  not  held 
responsible  for  its  moral  acts  until  it  has  reached 
the  age  of  puberty. 

Outside  of  the  Koran  a  rather  large  literature 
exists  on  Adah,  or  politeness,  etiquette,  morals, 
which  is  sometimes  within  the  reach  of  children; 
but  it  is  difficult  for  parent  or  child  to  say  where 
etiquette  ends  and  morals  begin.  Certain  vir\ 
tues,  such  as  patience,  humility,  gentleness,  re-| 
finement  of  speech,  and  care  of  the  sick,  are  com-j 
mended,  and  the  opposite  vices  held  up  to  con-t 
tempt ;  but  there  is  always  the  tendency  to  narrow 
the  circle  of  philanthropy  to  Moslems.  These 
mediaeval  admonitions  on  morals  and  behaviour 
are  copied  out  in  school  or  quoted  as  proverbs, 
but  are  generally  considered  as  counsels  of  per- 
fection. Not  even  the  saints  in  the  Moslem  cal- 
endar attained  to  these  virtues  in  any  large 
measure,  therefore  what  hope  is  there  for  ordi- 
nary mortals!  ** Those  who  recount  the  history 
of  Islam, '*  writes  Margoliouth,  '*have  to  lay 
aside  all  ordinary  canons  of  morality,  else  the  pic- 
ture would  have  no  lights;  they  could  not  write 


170     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

at  all  if  they  let  themselves  be  shocked  by  perfidy 
or  bloodthirstiness,  by  cruelty  or  lust.  Yet  both 
the  Koran  and  the  Tradition  forbid  the  first  three, 
and  assign  some  limits  to  the  fourth.'' 

And  beside  this  discrepancy  between  theory  and 
practice,  the  theory  itself  is  not  accessible  to  the 
vast  majority  who  are  sunk  in  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition, and  have  never  heard  the  names  of 
these  Moslem  writers.  The  theory  exists,  we  must 
acknowledge,  and  those  who  wish  to  examine  it 
more  carefully  will  find  it  fully  described  by  Pro- 
fessor MacDonald  in  a  paper  on  the  Moral  Edu- 
cation of  the  Young  among  Moslems  {Interna- 
tional Journal  of  Ethics,  Vol.  XV,  p.  286). 
Within  a  stone's  throw  of  Al  Azhar  University, 
however,  and  of  the  Paternoster  Row  of  Cairo, 
where  these  books  are  printed,  the  condition  of 
Moslem  childhood  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the 
inefiiciency  of  such  moral  training.  The  first  sen- 
tence a  child  learns  to  speak  in  Egypt  is  often 
a  phrase  of  impoliteness  and  insult.  The  mouths 
of  little  children  are  full  of  cursing  and  bitter- 
ness, and  the  way  of  peace  they  have  not  known. 
No  amount  of  moral  maxims  can  counteract  the 
terrible  effect  of  an  immoral  environment.  Mos- 
lem children  come  into  the  world  handicapped. 
The  curse  of  Islam,  through  its  polygamy,  con- 
cubinage, and  freedom  of  divorce,  already  rests 
upon  them.    All  correspondents  and  missionaries, 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      171 

without  exception,  speak  of  these  conditions,  and 
say  it  is  hardly  conceivable  that  a  child  can  grow 
up  pure-minded  in  such  an  atmosphere.  Dr.  Pen- 
nell  testifies  that  in  Afghanistan  the  boys  of  even 
the  highest  families  suffer  permanent  moral  in- 
jury by  being  brought  up  in  the  voluptuous  and 
effeminate  surroundings  of  the  zenana.  Mr. 
Cooksey  of  Tunis  says:  **Foul  language,  lying, 
treachery,  and  intrigue  is  their  common  life. 
Small  boys  curse  and  strike  their  mothers,  who 
glory  in  this  manliness,  and  immorality,  includ- 
ing sodomy,  is  very  rife  among  the  adolescent." 

From  earliest  childhood  Moslem  children  nearly 
everywhere  are  familiar  with  degrading  conversa- 
tion, and  this  precocity  of  evil  is  doubtless  due 
in  many  lands  to  scanty  clothing  and  improper 
housing  of  children.  Rev.  Mr.  Jessup  writes  from 
Persia:  ^^In  well-to-do  houses  the  boys  and  girls 
are  separated  when  little  children,  and  are  rele- 
gated to  the  men's  and  women's  apartments  re- 
spectively, where,  in  the  company  of  their  elders, 
they  are  exposed  to  coarse  and  impure  language 
and  degrading  suggestions.  ...  On  the  other 
hand,  the  children  seem  bright  and  happy  and 
loved.  Though  at  times  cruelly  treated,  they  are 
more  often  harmed  through  ignorance  than  ill 
will.'' 

Rev.  John  Van  Ess,  for  many  years  a  mis- 
sionary in  Turkish  Arabia,  writes:  ''AH  Moslem 


172     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

boys  learn  elaborate  and  artistic  profanity  at 
home,  a  profanity  which  consigns  the  offender 
and  all  his  ancestors  and  posterity  to  refined  de- 
grees of  punishment.  And  worst  of  all,  is  that 
they  freely  invoke  Allah  as  witness  and  upholder 
of  the  imprecations.  It  is  a  mixture  of  religion 
and  profanity,  all  learned  at  home,  and  the  up- 
rooting of  the  nature  and  habit  takes  long  and 
patient  and  loving  effort.'' 

Burton,  the  Arabian  traveller,  tells  of  the  lack 
of  moral  education  in  Medina  and  Mecca;  how 
parents  abuse  their  children  almost  as  soon  as 
they  can  speak,  in  order  to  excite  their  rage  and 
test  their  dispositions.  The  children  reply  with 
coarse  language,  and  lisp  blasphemies  from  in- 
fancy. 

**One  urchin,  scarcely  three  years  old,  told  me, 
because  I  objected  to  his  perching  upon  my 
wounded  foot,  that  his  father  had  a  sword  at 
home  with  which  he  would  cut  my  throat  from 
ear  to  ear,  suiting  the  action  to  the  word.  By  a 
few  taunts  I  made  the  little  wretch  furious  with 
rage;  he  shook  his  infant  fist  at  me,  and  then 
opening  his  enormous  black  eyes  to  their  utmost 
stretch,  he  looked  at  me,  and  licked  his  knee  with 
portentous  meaning.  ... 

'*Then  a  serious  and  majestic  boy  about  six 
years  old,  with  an  inkstand  in  his  belt,  in  token 
of  his  receiving  a  literary  education,  seized  my 


2  « 

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MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      173 

pipe  and  began  to  smoke  it  with  huge  puffs.    I 
ventured  laughingly  to  institute  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  length  of  his  person  and  the  pipe-stick, 
when  he  threw  it  upon  the  ground,  and  stared  at         f 
me  fixedly  with  flaming  eyes  and  features  dis-        | 
torted  by  anger. " 

If  it  is  true,  as  all  teachers  of  ethics  admit,  that 
the  moral  development  of  a  child  or  his  immoral 
tendencies  are  due  most  of  all  to  the  influence  of 
the  parents,  especially  the  mother,  how  sad  is  the 
lot  of  the  Moslem  child!  A  correspondent  from 
Nablous,  Palestine,  speaks  of  this  neglect,  or  un- 
trained motherhood,  and  says :  *  *  It  is  no  wonder 
the  children  have  foul  minds  and  fouler  tongues. 
It  is  not  shame  for  a  Moslem  mother  to  engage 
in  the  most  filthy  and  polluting  conversation  be- 
fore her  young  children,  and  when  she  has  taught 
them  to  curse  their  own  father,  she  praises  them 
for  their  cleverness. '* 

Judged  by  Christian  standards,  the  condition 
of  Moslem  children  nearly  everywhere  is  nocent 
rather  than  innocent,  and  ever  tends  to  degrada- 
tion. 

What  we  call  home  life  is  strangely  absent. 
Where  there  is  love  between  the  parents  and  the 
children  there  is  still  unhappiness,  for,  as  Dr. 
Cantine  of  Arabia  remarks,  *  *  Moslem  children  are 
unhappy  not  because  of  lack  of  love,  but  from 
lack  of  knowledge  of  what  is  best  for  them  and  lack 


174     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

of  wisdom  on  the  part  of  their  parents  in  using 
what  little  knowledge  they  have. ' '  This  testimony- 
is  corroborated  by  a  Swedish  missionary  in 
Chinese  Turkestan,  who  writes : '  *  The  parents,  al- 
though they  have  an  intense  love  for  their  chil- 
dren, have  no  idea  whatever  of  bringing  them  up, 
judged  by  our  Christian  standards.  They  run 
perfectly  wild,  no  attention  is  paid  to  cleanliness ; 
they  learn  all  the  evil  things  they  see  and  hear 
in  their  homes  and  in  the  streets,  and  are  ap- 
plauded as  being  clever  when  they  use  bad  words. 
It  is  really  a  wonder  that  they  are  so  amenable 
to  teaching  and  rules  when  they  come  under  our 
influence. ' ' 

The  results  of  this  training  of  childhood  can 
best  be  studied  in  lands  where  Islam  has  had  un- 
disputed possession  for  centuries,  where  the  law 
of  cause  and  effect  has  operated  for  generations, 
under  different  natural  and  political  environ- 
ments and  even  different  races,  but  where  the  re- 
sults are  so  sadly  similar  that  they  form  a  terrible 
and  unanswerable  indictment  against  Islam  in  its 
relation  to  childhood.  In  its  native  Arabian  soil, 
for  example,  the  tree  planted  by  the  Prophet  has 
grown  with  wild  freedom  and  brought  forth  fruit 
after  its  kind.  In  Morocco  and  Afghanistan, 
Islam  has  never  been  hindered  in  its  development 
by  other  dominant  religions.  Wliat  we  see  in 
these  lands,  therefore,  is  the  fruit  of  the  tree. 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      175 

Doughty  tells  us  that  the  nomad  boys  despise  their 
mother  *s  voice,  and  as  far  as  moral  training  goes, 
they  receive  none  in  the  early  days  of  childhood. 

*^I  have  known  an  ill-natured  child  to  lay  a 
stick  to  the  back  of  his  good  cherishing  mother; 
and  asked  why  she  suffered  this,  she  answered, 
sighing,  *  My  child  is  a  kafir, '  that  is,  of  a  heathen- 
ish, froward  nature.  Some  asking  if  our  children 
too  were  peevish,  when  they  heard  from  me  the 
old  dreadful  severity  of  Moses'  law,  they  ex- 
claimed, *But  many  is  the  ill-natured  lad  among 
us  that,  and  he  be  strong  enough,  will  beat  his 
own  father. '  .  .  .  There  are  devout  Bedouins  full, 
in  that  religious  life  of  the  desert,  of  natural 
religion,  who  may  somewhiles  reprove  them;  but 
the  child  is  never  checked  for  any  lying,  although 
the  Arabians  say  Hhe  lie  is  shameful.'  Their  lie 
is  an  easy  stratagem  and  one's  most  ready  de- 
fence to  mislead  his  enemy.  Nature  we  see  to  be 
herself  most  full  of  all  guile,  and  this  lying  mouth 
is  indulged  by  the  Arabian  religion." 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  by  apologists  for  Islam 
that  its  progress  among  the  heathen  tribes  in 
Africa  is  a  stepping-stone  to  Christianity.  Alas, 
all  the  testimony  is  on  the  other  side.  **The 
adoption  of  the  faith  of  Islam  by  the  pagan  peo- 
ple of  Africa,"  said  the  Bishop  of  Mombasa,  *4s 
in  no  sense  whatever  a  stepping-stone  towards  or 
a  preparation  for  Christianity,  but  exactly  the 


176     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

reverse."  (The  Moslem  World,  Vol.  I,  p.  365.) 
In  his  book,  *^The  Progress  and  Arrest  of 
Islam  in  Sumatra,"  Gottfried  Simon  deals  with 
this  whole  question  and  says  things  that  may  ap- 
pear severe  to  those  who  have  only  investigated 
the  subject  superficially,  but  which  are  confirmed 
by  all  students  of  Islam  who  live  in  Moslem  lands 
and  are  not  mere  armchair  critics.  **A  glance 
at  the  Mohammedan  world, ' '  he  says,  *  *  shows  that 
the  level  of  morality  is  actually  lowest  in  the  old 
Mohammedan  countries.  .  .  .  Islam  does  not  raise 
the  moral  ideal  of  animistic  peoples.  .  .  .  Just  be- 
cause the  Bataks,  for  instance,  are  so  ignorant 
about  the  Prophet's  life,  the  morality  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan Batak  and  his  married  life  is  on  a 
higher  plane  than  that  of  other  Mohammedan 
countries. ' '  And  again,  in  regard  to  the  influence 
of  the  Mecca  pilgrimage  upon  the  morals  of 
heathenism,  he  says :  *  *  It  introduces  him  to  a  re- 
finement of  vice  of  which  he  was  hitherto  ig- 
norant. .  .  .  The  captains  of  pilgrim  boats  carry 
not  only  cholera  germs  to  the  ends  of  the  earth; 
they  have  also  shiploads  of  agents  of  immorality 
for  the  heathen  world  already  immoral  to  the 
core.  And  this  immorality,  like  everything  that 
comes  from  Mecca,  has  the  Divine  sanction,  for- 
bidden as  such  vices  may  be  by  the  letter  of  the 
law." 

Similar  testimony  is  given  from  other  lands, 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      177 

especially  West  Africa.  ' '  Islam, ' '  says  Rev.  R.  P. 
Dougherty,  *  ^  does  not  subvert  heathenism  in  West 
Africa,  but  uses  it  as  a  foundation  for  its  own 
religious  structure.  The  African  need  not  drop 
any  of  the  distinctive  habits  and  customs  of  his 
animistic  cult  in  order  to  become  a  Moslem. 
Polygamy,  witchcraft,  slavery,  and  even  cannibal- 
ism, may  be  indulged  in  as  before.  In  reality,  the 
negro  puts  on  the  gown  of  Islam  not  to  get  rid 
of  his  evil  practices,  nor  even  to  hide  them,  but 
rather  to  dignify  them,  if  possible.'' 

One  of  the  fundamental  evils  of  heathenism,  its 
childhood  as  well  as  manhood,  is  untruthfulness. 
Where  the  home  life  is  full  of  the  spirit  of  deceit, 
all  moral  health  and  stability  are  destroyed.  Yet 
Islam  in  its  moral  results,  not  to  speak  of  its 
moral  teaching,  does  not  rise  above,  nay,  scarcely 
as  high  as,  the  other  non- Christian  religions  in 
this  respect.  We  do  not  mean  to  insinuate,  as 
some  writers  have,  that  Moslems  are  to  be  classed 
with  Cretans  and  that  their  word  is  utterly  unre- 
liable, but  to  point  out  that  the  widespread  habit 
of  lying  and  the  low  ideas  of  truth  prevalent  in 
Moslem  lands,  and  therefore  imitated  by  children, 
are  due  to  the  teaching  of  Islam  itself  and  its 
effect  upon  those  that  profess  it.  Whether  Mo- 
hammed should  be  called  the  False  Prophet  par 
eminence  may  be  an  open  question  with  many,  but 
when  we  read  Moslem  theology,  study  Moham- 


178     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

medan  literature,  and  live  among  Moslem  peo- 
ples, there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  truth- 
speaking  seems  to  have  become  a  lost  art. 

It  is  true  that  the  Koran  again  and  again 
classes  liars  with  unbelievers  and  infidels,  and 
says  that  their  fate  will  be  eternal  fire.  But  when 
we  ask  in  what  a  lie  really  consists,  we  discover 
that  Islam  is  able  to  condemn  liars  as  a  class  and 
yet  allows  untruthfulness.  The  Koran,  for  ex- 
ample, says  concerning  oaths : '  *  God  will  not  pun- 
ish for  an  inconsiderate  error  in  your  oath,  but 
He  will  punish  you  for  that  which  your  hearts 
have  assented  to."  (Surah  2:225.)  Tradition 
interprets  this  verse  by  saying,  **  Whoever  swears 
to  a  thing  and  says  In  sha  Allah  (if  it  please  God) 
commits  no  sin.''  On  the  whole  question  of  the 
nature  of  an  oath,  Moslem  jurists  follow  rabbinic 
teaching.  If  a  man  swear  by  the  knowledge  of 
God,  it  does  not  constitute  an  oath.  Abu  Hanifa 
goes  so  far  as  to  allege  that  if  a  man  swear  by  the 
truth  of  God,  this  does  not  constitute  an  oath,  and 
in  this  opinion  other  jurists  coincide.  To  swear 
on  the  Koran  is  one  of  the  most  solemn  methods 
of  securing  veracity,  and  yet  it  is  a  well-known 
practice  in  some  Moslem  lands  for  the  one  who 
takes  this  oath  to  place  between  his  thumb  and 
the  Holy  Book  the  bristle  of  a  hog,  and  by  a 
species  of  casuistry  the  oath  in  this  case  is  null 
and  void.    Oaths  on  every  occasion,  not  only  in 


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MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      179 

the  name  of  God,  but  of  the  Prophet,  his  word, 
his  life,  etc.,  are  therefore  exceedingly  common. 

Turning  from  the  Koran  and  its  teaching  to 
that  of  Moslem  theology,  we  find  in  Ghazali,  the 
greatest  of  all  their  theologians  and  the  most  au- 
thoritative, the  following  paragraphs  on  the  ques- 
tion, "When  lies  are  justifiable.  {Ihya  ul-'Ulum, 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  96.) 

*^Know  that  a  lie  is  not  liar  am  (wrong)  in  itself, 
but  only  because  of  the  evil  conclusions  to  which 
it  leads  the  hearer,  making  him  believe  something 
that  is  not  really  the  case.  Ignorance  sometimes 
is  an  advantage,  and  if  a  lie  causes  this  kind  of 
ignorance  it  may  be  allowed.  It  is  sometimes  a 
duty  to  lie.  Maimun  ibn  Muhran  said,  *A  lie  is 
sometimes  better  than  truth ;  for  instance,  if  you 
see  a  man  seeking  for  another  in  order  to  kill 
him,  what  do  you  reply  to  the  question  as  to 
where  he  is  ?  Even  though  you  know  where  he  is, 
do  you  not  say,  I  have  not  seen  him?  Of  course 
you  will  reply  thus,  for  such  a  lie  is  lawful.  We 
say  that  the  end  justifies  the  means.' 

*^If  lying  and  truth  both  lead  to  a  good  result, 
you  must  tell  the  truth,  for  a  lie  is  forbidden  in 
this  case.  If  a  lie  is  the  only  way  to  reach  a 
good  result,  it  is  allowable  (hillal).  A  lie  is  lawful 
when  it  is  the  only  path  to  duty.  For  example, 
if  a  Moslem  flees  from  an  unjust  one  and  you  are 
asked  about  him,  you  are  obliged  to  lie  in  order 


180     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

to  save  him.  If  the  outcome  of  war,  reconcilia- 
tion between  two  separated  friends,  or  the  safety 
of  an  oppressed  person  depends  on  a  lie,  then  a 
lie  is  allowed.  In  all  cases  we  must  be  careful 
not  to  lie  when  there  is  no  necessity  for  it,  lest 
it  be  haram  (wrong).  If  a  wicked  person  asks  a 
man  about  his  wealth,  he  has  to  deny  having  any ; 
and  so  if  a  sultan  asks  a  man  about  a  crime  he 
has  committed,  he  has  to  deny  it  and  say,  ^  I  have 
not  stolen,'  when  he  did  steal;  ^nor  done  any 
vice,'  which  he  has  done.  The  Prophet  said,  *He 
who  has  done  a  shameful  deed  must  conceal  it, 
for  revealing  one  disgrace  is  another  disgrace.' 
A  person  must  deny  the  sins  of  others  as  well. 
Making  peace  between  wives  is  a  duty,  even  by 
pretending  to  each  of  them  that  she  is  loved  the 
most,  and  by  making  promises  to  please  her. 

**We  must  lie  when  truth  leads  to  unpleasant 
results,  but  tell  the  truth  when  it  leads  to  good 
results.  Lying  for  one 's  pleasure,  or  for  increase 
of  wealth,  or  for  fame,  is  forbidden.  One  wife 
must  not  lie  to  her  husband  to  tease  another  wife. 
Lying  is  allowed. in  persuading  children  to  go  to 
school;  also  false  promises  and  false  threats." 

This  kind  of  teaching  is  found  in  the  standard 
work  on  religion,  by  one  who  is  considered, 
even  today,  a  defender  of  the  faith  of  Islam. 
One  cannot,  marvel  at  the  result.  **  According 
to     the     testimony     of    a     Persian    nobleman, 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      181 

*  Lying  is  rotting  this  country.  Persians  tell  lies 
before  they  can  speak.'  The  land  is  said  to 
be  a  hotbed  of  lies  and  intrigues.  To  be  called 
a  liar  in  Persia  is  considered  a  very  mild  insult. 
Curzon,  in  his  book  on  Persia,  remarks,  *I  am 
convinced  that  the  true  son  of  Iran  would  sooner 
lie  than  tell  the  truth,  and  that  he  feels  twinges 
of  desperate  remorse  when  upon  occasions  he  has 
thoughtlessly  strayed  into  veracity.'  "  (** Chris- 
tian Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  p.  101.) 
**  Truthfulness, ' '  says  Budgett  Meakin,  **is  not  a 
quality  which  need  be  sought  for  in  Morocco,  for 
the  Moors  have  no  conception  of  what  we  under- 
stand by  that  term.  The  strongest  asseverations 
have  to  be  employed  in  daily  intercourse,  and 
few  expect  to  be  believed  without  an  oath."  The 
use  of  the  oath,  however,  in  Moslem  lands  is  only 
an  indication  of  the  universality  of  distrust  and 
untruthfulness.  Little  children  constantly  use  the 
name  of  God  or  of  the  Prophet  in  affirming  the 
most  commonplace  statements;  in  fact  Wallah 
and  Aiwa,  the  two  affirmatives  so  well  known 
wherever  Arabic  is  spoken,  are  both  of  them  oaths 
by  the  name  of  God,  and  they  signify  no  more  on 
the  lips  of  children  than  our  English  aye  or  yes. 
Similar  testimony  as  regards  untruthfulness 
among  young  and  old  comes  from  all  lands.  **  Is- 
lam, ' '  says  Simon,  *  *  does  not  denounce  the  funda- 
mental evil  of  heathenism,  namely  untruthful- 


182     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

ness,  but  actually  fosters  it.  ...  A  Mohammedan 
teacher  in  Poboendjoran  in  Celebes  told  the  Mo- 
hammedan children  who  wished  to  attend  a  Chris- 
tian school :  *  If  you  go  to  that  school,  you  will  be 
hewn  in  half  from  your  head  to  your  feet  when 
you  die.  The  one  half  which  knows  how  to  recite 
the  Koran  will  go  to  heaven ;  the  other  which  has 
gone  to  school  will  go  to  hell!*  *'  An  English 
woman  who  spent  eight  years  in  Turkish  Arabia, 
says,  **You  get  so  tired  of  always  hearing  lies 
that  you  begin  to  feel  it  is  no  use  to  question  peo- 
ple at  all.  It  is  a  sad  fact,  too,  that  the  natives 
do  not  trust  or  believe  each  other.  A  brother  will 
cheat  a  brother,  or  a  son  his  father." 

One  reason  for  this  low  standard  is  undoubt- 
edly the  fact  that  in  the  creed  of  Islam  precept 
and  practice  are  not  supposed  to  go  together,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  the  ritual.  In  this  even  chil- 
dren are  taught  to  be  most  punctilious,  as  we 
shall  see  when  we  consider  the  religious  practices 
— sprayer,  fasting,  and  so  forth.  In  the  children's 
primer  published  in  Cairo,  from  which  I  have  al- 
ready quoted,  many  pages  are  devoted  to  the 
ritual  of  washing  and  the  order  of  prostrations 
in  prayer.  There  is  not  a  single  paragraph  on 
obedience,  purity,  or  truthfulness.  In  this  primer 
the  child  is  taught  that  moral  actions  are  divided 
into  five  classes.  This  follows  the  teaching  of  all 
Moslem  law  books.     First,  fard  (necessary) :  a 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      183 

duty  the  omission  of  which  is  punished,  the  doing 
rewarded.  Secondly,  mandub  (recommended) : 
the  doing  is  rewarded,  but  the  omission  is  not 
punished.  Thirdly,  muhah  (permitted) :  legally 
indifferent.  Fourthly,  makruh  (disliked) :  disap- 
proved by  the  law,  but  not  under  penalty.  Fifthly, 
haram  (forbidden) :  an  action  punishable  by  law. 
With  all  these  loopholes  for  compromise  between 
that  which  is  morally  right  and  morally  wrong, 
the  youthful  offender  can  find  a  way  of  escape  as 
easily  as  his  elders.  What  must  be  the  effect 
upon  the  morals  of  a  child  as  keen  to  observe  as 
all  children  are,  when  they  see  the  utter  contra- 
diction between  precept  and  practice  ?  As  a  Moor 
in  Fez  said  to  a  traveller:  ^*Do  you  want  to  know 
what  our  religion  is?  We  purify  ourselves  with 
water  while  we  contemplate  adultery;  we  go  to 
the  mosque  to  pray,  and  as  we  do  so  we  think 
how  best  to  cheat  our  neighbors;  we  give  alms 
at  the  door,  and  go  back  to  our  shops  to  rob ;  we 
read  our  Korans  and  go  out  to  commit  unmen- 
tionable sins ;  we  fast  and  go  on  pilgrimages,  yet 
we  lie  and  kill.'' 

The  ceremoniaUaw  in  Islam  has  taken  the  first 
place  in  their  hearts  and  minds.  It  is  a  much 
greater  offence  to  pray  with  unwashed  hands  than 
to  tell  a  lie,  and  impurity  of  speech  is  nothing 
compared  with  that  impurity  of  lips  which  fol- 
lows the  eating  of  pork.    In  the  Moslem  traditions 


184     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  greatest  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  outward 
observance  of  the  law,  and  but  seldom  is  there 
reference  to  inward  purity  of  heart  and  holiness. 
Henry  Otis  Dwight  in  his  story  of  present-day 
conditions,  **A  Muslim  Sir  Galahad, '^  gives  an 
interesting  instance.  The  Kurdish  Moslems  had 
gathered  for  sunset  prayer,  and  several  small 
boys  from  nine  to  ten  years  of  age  in  the  crowd 
had  joined  the  prayer  line  to  learn  the  postures 
and  formulas.  When  prayer  was  over  two  of 
them  were  squabbling  as  to  which  had  received 
the  most  merit. 

**  Ismail  said,  *I  did  two  rounds,  and  then  I  lost 
my  count.' 

**  *I  did  three,'  said  Jemil  with  all  the  pride 
of  youthful  virtue. 

**  *No,  you  didn't,'  said  Ismail.  *In  the  round 
when  you  bowed  you  said,  **God  is  most  great," 
instead  of  ^* Praise  God  the  great  One."  Besides, 
your  back  wasn't  straight  when  you  said  it.  You 
ought  to  have  begun  again  and  done  it  over ;  that 
round  doesn't  count.' 

**  *Your  back  was  all  humped  up  when  you 
bowed,'  retorted  Jemil  angrily.  *That  doesn't 
count  either.'  " 

This  incident  is  typical.  How  often  I  have 
heard  Arabian  children  dispute  concerning  the 
details  of  the  ritual,  as  if  they  were  professors 
of  Moslem  law  and  Jurisprudence,  meanwhile  ut- 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      185 

terly  ignorant  of  the  real  significance  of  prayer 
and  too  proud  and  self-righteous  to  have  con- 
sciousness of  sin  or  the  need  of  a  Saviour.  The 
Decalogue  as  interpreted  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  appeals  to  the  moral  sense 
of  even  little  children,  and  when  they  learn  the 
Beatitudes  they  have  before  them  the  highest 
ideals  of  conduct,  but,  alas,  many  of  the  command- 
ments of  the  Koran  would  have  to  be  abrogated 
to  give  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  a  place  in  Mos- 
lem ethics. 

Instead  of  being  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake,  the  saints  in  the  Moslem  calendar  have  per- 
secuted others.  Instead  of  swearing  neither  by 
heaven  nor  by  earth,  Moslem  children  read  in  the 
Koran  that  God  Himself  or  Mohammed  swore  by 
everything  that  is  created  in  heaven  above  or  in 
the  earth  beneath.  Instead  of  turning  the  other 
cheek,  the  Koran  tells  them  to  take  an  eye  for  an 
eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  (Surah  5:48.)  We 
could  thus  compare  every  one  of  the  Command- 
ments in  the  Decalogue  and  see  how  Islam  has 
taken  a  step  backward  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
moral  law.  According  to  a  curious  tradition  uni- 
versally accepted,  Mohammed  was  confused  both 
as  to  the  number  and  the  character  of  the  Com- 
mandments given  to  Moses : 

**A  Jew  came  to  the  Prophet  and  asked  him 
about  the  nine  (sic)  wonders  which  appeared  by 


186     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  hand  of  Moses.  The  Prophet  said,  'Do  not 
associate  anything  with  God,  do  not  steal,  do  not 
commit  adultery,  do  not  kill,  do  not  take  an  in- 
nocent before  the  king  to  be  killed,  do  not  practise 
magic,  do  not  take  interest,  do  not  accuse  an  in- 
nocent woman  of  adultery,  do  not  run  away  in 
battle,  and  especially  for  you,  0  Jews,  not  to 
work  on  the  Sabbath/' 

The  reverent  use  of  the  name  of  God  is  omitted 
from  this  revised  version  of  the  Commandments, 
and  not  only  the  daily  life  of  the  Moslem,  but  his 
religious  books,  are  full  of  the  vain  use  of  God's 
name  and  of  needless  oaths. 

Of  the  lax  interpretation  given  by  Islam  in  its 
book  and  by  its  Prophet  to  the  seventh  command- 
ment it  is  unnecessary  to  speak  here.  The  exist- 
ence of  polygamy,  divorce,  and  slavery,  three 
evils  so  closely  intertwined,  and  the  consequent 
degraded  position  of  womanhood,  are  sufficient 
comment.  The  tenth  commandment  would  have 
no  place  in  the  ethics  of  Islam,  as  the  principle  is 
laid  down  that  sin  consists  only  in  the  outward 
act  and  not  in  the  inward  inclination. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  in  the  earliest  **Life  of 
Mohammed  ''  published  in  Europe  (Prideaux, 
**La  Vie  de  Mahomet,''  Amsterdam,  1699),  the 
author  has  a  vignette  representing  the  Prophet  of 
Arabia  trampling  upon  the  two  Tables  of  the  Law 
and  the  Cross,  while  with  the  crescent  in  the  one 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      187 

hand  and  the  sword  in  the  other,  he  is  leading  an 
army  into  battle.  Eaymund  Lull,  the  first  mis- 
sionary to  Mohammedans,  in  his  able  preaching 
and  with  his  thorough  knowledge  of  Moslem 
ethics,  used  to  show  how  the  seven  cardinal  vir- 
tues were  absent  in  Islam  and  the  seven  deadly 
sins  glossed  over.  A  careful  study  of  the  life  of 
Mohammed  and  of  his  principles  of  conduct  as 
shown  in  the  Koran,  will  corroborate  rather  than 
contradict  the  opinions  thus  vigorously  expressed. 
And  after  all,  the  moral  teaching  of  a  child  does 
not  depend  half  so  much  on  precept  as  on  ex- 
ample; not  that  which  is  forbidden,  but  that 
which  is  inculcated  will  mould  the  character  of 
childhood.  Islam  lacks  the  highest  ideals.  How 
many  of  what  St.  Paul  calls  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit — love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentle- 
ness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  self-control,  are 
found  in  the  character  of  Mohammed,  or  'Ali,  or 
Fatima,  or  Ayesha?  ^*  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart,  for  they  shall  see  God,"  and  it  is  the  pure 
in  heart  who  are  able  to  show  the  vision  of  God 
to  others,  and  to  give  to  childhood  moral  ideals 
that  shall  abide  for  them  throughout  life.  The 
Moslem  child  from  its  earliest  years  is  brought 
up  in  an  environment  where  lips  and  hearts  and 
imaginations  are  impure ;  where  the  conversation 
and  the  literature  are  besmirched  with  that  which 
a  young  boy  or  a  young  girl  ought  never  to  know. 


188     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Sex  education  in  Islam  has  gone  mad.  As  the 
Eev.  W.  H.  T.  Gairdner  remarked  in  this  con- 
nection: **The  incessant  sounding  of  the  sexual 
note  in  the  Koran,  the  Traditions,  the  canon  law, 
and  in  the  poetry,  literature,  theology,  and  entire 
system  of  Islam,  tends  to  make  impossible  the 
highest  individual,  family,  or  social  life,  and  de- 
feats the  very  ends  it  appears  to  have  had  in 
view." 

Islam  may  have  all  the  credit  it  deserves  for  its 
lofty  teaching  as  regards  monotheism,  for  its 
hatred  of  idolatry,  for  its  earnestness  in  the  out- 
ward observance  of  religious  ceremonies,  for  its 
fanatic  devotion  and  love  of  conquest,  but  Islam 
can  never  have  a  high  place  in  the  realm  of  ethics. 
Here  it  can  never  share  honours  with  Christianity 
nor  presume  to  be  her  handmaid  in  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  individual.  It  has  left  its  ethical  stamp 
upon  every  land  where  it  has  been  dominant,  and 
its  record  is  that  of  the  earth,  earthy.  In  regard 
to  ethics  Mohammed  has  been  not  only  the 
prophet  but  the  prophecy  of  Islam. 

This  tainted  atmosphere  has  its  effect  upon 
childhood,  not  only  morally  but  even  physically. 
Beauty  and  innocence  go  together  in  childhood. 
Many  of  the  bright  and  beautiful  faces  shown  in 
the  illustrations  that  accompany  the  text  are 
bright  and  beautiful  because  they  are  still  free 
from  the  blight  of  this  religion.     Mrs.  Hume- 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      189 

Griffith  writes  that  the  children  of  Mosul  *4ose 
a  great  deal  of  their  beauty  when  five  or 
six  years  old.  Perhaps  it  is  because  their  souls 
at  that  age  become  tainted  with  knowledge  of 
evil,  and  this  knowledge  is  reflected  on  their  faces. 
It  is  heartrending  to  see  pretty  little  children 
listening  open-mouthed  to  some  horrible  tale  of 
sin  and  wickedness  told  by  a  member  of  the  harim. 
It  is  true  there  is  beauty  behind  the  veil,  but, 
alas!  it  is  beauty  tainted  with  the  blackness  of 
sin.  How  can  lives  be  beautiful  when  the  souls 
within  are  dead? — as  dead  as  sin  and  sorrow  can 
make  them.  Boys  and  girls  grow  up  amidst  sur- 
roundings which  soon  soil  their  souls;  the  *inno- 
cency  of  childhood,'  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  Eng- 
lish parents,  is  unknown  in  a  Moslem  harim/' 

The  heart  of  a  Moslem  girl  instead  of  being  fuU 
of  truth  and  righteousness  and  purity,  of  high 
and  noble  ideals  for  girlhood  and  budding  woman- 
hood, very  early  experiences  much  that  is  degrad- 
ing and  polluting.  Her  heart  becomes,  through 
this  very  process  of  neglect  and  immoral  train- 
ing, **  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately 
wicked.''  A  Swedish  missionary  in  Egypt  tells 
of  a  child  who  was  married  at  the  age  of  twelve 
and  taken  by  her  husband  to  his  village,  where 
cruelty  and  ill-treatment  were  her  fate.  When 
her  first-born  boy  died  she  was  divorced  and  sent 
back  to  her  father.    He,  being  unable  to  support 


190     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

her,  drove  a  good  bargain  and  married  his  child, 
not  yet  sixteen  years  old,  to  another  man.  '*  When 
I  met  her,"  writes  this  lady,  **what  a  strange 
mixture  there  was  in  her  heart.  She  was  mature, 
sharp,  intelligent,  and  old  in  all  that  concerns 
evil,  but  a  child  perfectly  undeveloped  and  igno- 
rant in  everything  relating  to  purity,  truth,  and 
nobility.  She  had  no  such  conceptions.  Her  soul 
had  been  robbed  of  all  that  makes  life  worth  liv- 
ing." Wliat  a  life  story  can  be  read  in  the  face 
of  the  little  bride  from  Algeria  shown  in  our 
frontispiece!  To  those  who  have  lived  among 
them,  who  have  loved  them,  have  fathomed  the 
depths  of  their  loneliness  and  friendlessness,  to 
those  who  have  looked  even  for  a  little  while  into 
the  horror  of  this  great  darkness — the  darkness 
of  Moslem  girlhood  and  womanhood,  their  cry  of 
pain  is  never  again  absent.  One  who  spent  forty 
years  of  her  life  among  them  wrote  that  at  a 
Communion  service  she  attended  in  America, 
when  the  question  was  asked,  *  *  Has  any  one  been 
omitted  in  the  distribution  of  the  bread  T'  she 
seemed  to  see  millions  of  women  rising  through- 
out the  Moslem  world,  for  whom  the  Body  was 
also  broken  and  the  Blood  shed,  but  who  had  not 
heard  of  His  love  nor  experienced  His  peace. 

"  Sudden,  before  my  inward,  open  vision, 
Millions  of  faces  crowded  up  to  view. 
Sad  eyes  that  said,  *  For  us  is  no  provision; 
Give  us  your  Saviour,  too ! ' 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      191 

"  Sorrowful  women's  faces,  hungry,  yearning, 

Wild  with  despair,  or  dark  with  sin  and  dread. 
Worn  with  long  weeping  for  the  unreturning, 
Hopeless,  uneomforted. 


t(  ( 


Give  us,'  they  cry.      '  Your  cup  of  consolation 
Never  to  our  outstretching  hands  is  passed; 
We  long  for  the  Desire  of  every  nation, 
And  oh,  we  die  so  fast !  ' " 

There  is,  however,  a  brighter  side  to  the  pic- 
ture. Educated  Moslems,  dissatisfied  with  the 
ethics  of  Islam  as  taught  by  the  old-school  Mos- 
lems and  based  on  the  Traditions,  are  beginning 
to  advocate  higher  morality,  the  emancipation  of 
womanhood,  and  the  education  of  childhood.  No 
stronger  testimony  concerning  the  failure  of  Mos- 
lem ethics  was  ever  given  than  by  these  leaders 
of  the  new  Islam  in  their  advocacy  of  higher 
standards  based  upon  Christianity.  When  they 
cannot  find  these  ideals  in  the  Koran,  they  borrow 
them  from  the  New  Testament.  'Ata  Husain  Bey 
of  Cairo  has  recently  written  a  series  of  pamphlets 
on  the  relation  of  Islam  to  modern  civilization. 
In  them  he  pays  high  tribute  to  the  ethics  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  although  he  considers  Jesus  (Tsa) 
only  as  a  prophet,  he  says : 

**But  the  most  remarkable  thing  which  our 
Lord  'Isa  commanded  was  universal  love.  He 
did  not  cease  to  preach  it  and  proclaim  it,  so  that 
He  even  said  the  whole  law  and  the  prophets  are 
fulfilled  in  love,  and  His  teaching  concerning  love 


192     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

was  so  strong  that  He  commanded  men  to  love 
even  their  enemies  and  those  that  harmed  them, 
and  this  surely  is  a  principle  of  life  higher  than 
all  other  principles,  for  everything  is  established 
on  love,  and  in  love  and  through  love  everything 
revives,  and  by  means  of  love  universal  benev- 
olence is  completed,  for  man's  love  to  his  brother 
gives  him  happiness  hereafter  and  in  this  world. 
.  .  .  All  this  the  well-balanced  mind  accepts  and 
approves  of,  but  the  question  arises,  Is  it  possible 
for  a  man  to  love  his  enemies  and  do  good  to  those 
that  hate  him?'' 

One  can  see  from  this  that  the  ideals  of  Christ 
startle  the  Moslem  mind  and  awaken  incredulity. 
In  a  primer  on  Moslem  ethics,  also  published  in 
Cairo  (1909)  for  the  use  of  schools,  by  Abdur 
Eahman  Ismail,  and  which  has  reached  the 
seventh  edition,  we  may  see  the  pathetic  attempt 
to  readjust  Moslem  ethics  to  Christian  standards 
in  every  way  possible.  The  author  says:  **I  will 
begin  my  little  book  by  the  famous  passage  in  the 
Koran  which  sums  up  the  ideal  education  for  a 
boy,  namely,  the  command  of  Loqman  to  his  son. ' ' 
Moslems  are  not  agreed  as  to  who  Loqman  was, 
some  considering  him  an  inspired  prophet,  others 
a  nephew  of  Abraham,  and  still  others,  probably 
more  correctly,  identifying  him  with  the  Greek 
-^sop.    The  passage  reads  as  follows : 

*'And  when  Loqman  said  to  his  son  while  ad- 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      193 

monishing  him,  *0  my  boy!  associate  none  with 
God,  for,  verily,  such  association  is  a  mighty 
wrong.'  .   .   . 

**For  we  have  commended  his  parents  to  man; 
his  mother  bore  him  with  weakness  upon  weak- 
ness; and  his  weaning  is  in  two  years.  .  .  .  *Be 
thankful  to  me  and  to  thy  parents;  for  unto  me 
shall  your  journey  be.  But  if  they  strive  with 
thee  that  thou  shouldst  associate  with  me  that 
which  thou  hast  no  knowledge  of,  then  obey  them 
not.  But  associate  with  them  in  the  world  with 
kindness,  and  follow  the  way  of  him  who  turns 
repentant  unto  me;  then  unto  me  is  your  return, 
and  I  will  inform  you  of  that  which  ye  have  done ! 

**  *0  my  son!  verily,  if  there  were  the  weight 
of  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  and  it  were  (hidden) 
in  the  rock,  or  in  the  heaven,  or  in  the  earth,  God 
would  bring  it  (to  light).  Verily,  God  is  subtle, 
well  beware ! 

**  *0  my  son!  be  steadfast  in  prayer,  and  bid 
what  is  reasonable  and  forbid  what  is  wrong;  be 
patient  of  what  befalls  thee,  verily,  that  is  one 
of  the  determined  affairs. 

**  *And  twist  not  thy  cheek  proudly,  nor  walk 
in  the  land  haughtily ;  verily,  God  loves  not  every 
arrogant  boaster:  but  be  moderate  in  thy  walk, 
and  lower  thy  voice ;  verily,  the  most  disagreeable 
of  voices  is  the  voice  of  asses!'  " 

This    introduction   the    author   considers    the 


194     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

summary  and  acme  of  divine  teaching  for  a  boy  I 
He  follows  it,  however,  by  several  chapters,  the 
titles  of  which,  in  the  absence  of  any  Koran  basis 
for  the  teaching,  indicate  the  desire  for  a  higher 
moral  standard:  Obedience  to  parents;  Love  for 
teachers;  Love  for  one's  relatives  and  friends; 
Patriotism,  Philanthropism,  Kindness  to  animals, 
Faithfulness,  Modesty,  Truth,  The  Fear  of  God, 
Diligence.  In  the  chapter  on  Truthfulness  the 
story  is  told  of  the  lad  who  cried,  **Wolf !  Wolf  !*' 
when  there  was  no  wolf,  and  the  moral  is  applied : 
It  is  dangerous  to  tell  lies  even  in  sport.  Most 
of  the  quotations  in  this  primer  of  ethics  are  taken 
not  from  the  Koran  but  from  Moslem  tradition, 
and  the  author  has  evidently  had  considerable 
difficulty  to  find  a  tradition,  however  obscure,  to 
serve  as  texts  for  his  homilies.  In  the  chapter  on 
the  Fear  of  God  we  read:  **Do  not  forget  what 
Mohammed  said:  *The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom.'  ''  The  chapter  on  Mod- 
esty contains  no  reference  to  sexual  purity,  and 
only  deals  with  the  modesty  of  humility  towards 
superiors. 

The  fact  is,  that  educated  Moslems  today  look 
outside  of  their  own  literature  for  ethical  stand- 
ards. One  of  the  leading  Nationalist  papers,  Es 
Shaah,  printed  Smiles'  book  on  *' Character"  as  a 
f  euilleton  in  its  daily  edition.  The  Moslem  press 
of  India  is  doing  its  best  to  whitewash  the  char- 


MORAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGLECT      195 

acter  of  their  Prophet,  and  to  reform  the  ethics  of 
Islam  on  Christian  lines.  In  this,  however,  they 
only  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  converts  from 
Christianity  to  Islam  two  centuries  after  the 
Hegira.  They  also  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
ideals  of  the  desert  Arabs  and  therefore,  as  Pro- 
fessor Goldziher  has  pointed  out,^  drew  a  picture 
of  Mohammed  that  should  not  be  inferior  to  that 
of  Christ,  by  attributing  Gospel  miracles  and 
Gospel  sayings,  even  including  portions  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  to 
their  Prophet. 

One  tradition  tells  that  Mohammed,  when  tor- 
tured and  beaten  by  his  people,  only  wiped  the 
blood  from  his  face  and  said,  * '  God,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do. ' '  The  commen- 
tators say  that  he  imitated  Noah  by  using  these 
words !  Elsewhere  it  is  related  that  the  Prophet 
said:  **If  any  one  suffers,  or  if  his  brother  suf- 
fers, he  should  say :  *  Our  Lord  God,  Which  art  in 
heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name;  Thy  kingdom 
[here,  apparently,  the  words  **come;  Thy  will  be 
done,"  are  left  out]  is  in  heaven  and  on  earth; 
as  Thy  mercy  is  in  heaven,  so  show  Thy  mercy 
on  earth;  forgive  us  our  debts  and  our  sins. 
Thou  art  the  Lord  of  the  good ;  send  down  mercy 
from  Thy  mercy  and  healing  from  Thy  healing 

^  "  Hadith  and  the  New  Testament."  A  Chapter  from  Muham- 
medanische  Studien,  pp.  48.    London:  S.  P.  C.  K. 


196     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

on  this  pain,  that  it  may  be  healed.'  ''  One 
might  give  other  instances,  but  these  are  sufficient. 

All  these  attempts,  however,  ended  in  failure  as 
regards  practical  results.  The  twigs  from  the 
tree  of  life,  however  skilfully  and  deceitfully  en- 
grafted on  the  wild  olive  of  the  desert,  never  bore 
fruit.  The  struggle  between  the  old  ethics  of  the 
Koran  and  the  new  ethics  based  on  Christianity 
is  inevitable.  S.  Khuda  Bukhsh  sums  up  the 
situation  very  well  when  he  speaks  for  his  co- 
religionists, the  educated  classes,  throughout  the 
Moslem  world: 

**It  would  be  the  merest  affectation  to  contend 
that  religious  and  social  systems,  bequeathed  to 
us  thirteen  hundred  years  ago,  should  now  be 
adapted  in  their  entirety  without  the  slightest 
change  or  alteration.  This  is  exactly  the  battle- 
field on  which  for  the  last  fifty  years  a  relentless 
war  has  been  waged  in  India  between  the  party 
of  light  and  hope,  and  the  party  which  is  wedded 
to  the  old  order  of  things." 


VI 

THE  RELIGION  OF  A 
MOSLEM  CHILD 


"We  address  ourselves  in  a  slight  and  inefficient  manner  to 
our  work,  when,  without  discrimination,  without  acquaintance 
with  those  systems  which  hold  souls  in  bondage,  which  hinder 
them  from  coming  to  the  light  of  life,  we  have  but  one  method 
with  them  all — one  language  in  which  to  describe  them  all — 
one  common  charge  of  belonging  to  the  devil  upon  which  to 
arraign  them  all;  instead  of  recognizing  that  each  province  of 
the  dark  kingdom  of  error  is  different  from  every  other;  instead 
of  seeing  that  it  is  not  a  lie  which  can  ever  make  anything 
strong,  that  it  is  certainly  not  their  lie  which  has  made  them 
strong,  and  enabled  them  to  stand  their  ground  so  long,  and 
some  of  them,  saddest  of  all!  to  win  ground  for  a  while  from 
Christendom  itself;  but  the  truth  which  that  lie  caricatures 
and  perverts." — Aechbishop  Trench  in  "  Hulsean  Lectures,"  1845. 

"Although  Mohammed  had  many  noble  qualities  and  was 
prophetically  gifted  with  the  inspiration  of  monotheism,  his 
moral  character  broke  down  under  the  stress  of  temptation.  Is 
it  not  pathetic  that  such  a  vast  number  of  the  human  race  are 
looking  to  him  as  the  sole  interpreter  of  God  and  as  their  guide 
for  life  and  death?" — Stephen  van  Rensselaer  Teowbbh)qe. 


VI 

THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD 

WE  have  seen  that  the  strength  of  Moslem 
education  is  on  its  religious  rather  than 
on  its  ethical  side.  Education  without 
religion  is  an  anomaly  among  Moslems.  To  them 
the  fear  of  Allah  is  the  beginning  of  education 
as  well  as  of  wisdom.  The  essentials  of  the  Mos- 
lem faith  are  fixed  in  children's  minds  while  they 
are  still  young.  Religious  zeal  is  stirred  by  teach- 
ing the  supremacy  of  Islam.  In  this  way  a  pride 
of  caste  is  developed,  and  the  effect  on  the  child's 
mind  is  great  beyond  calculation.  Dr.  Jessup 
of  Tabriz  remarks  that  from  the  child's  very 
birth  ^Hhe  whole  life  of  the  people  is  religious. 
Islam  is  recognized  in  everything,  in  the  bazaars, 
and  in  conversation,  and  children  grow  up  in  an 
atmosphere  permeated  by  religion."  Once  a 
Moslem  always  a  Moslem  is  their  expectation,  and 
they  follow  the  Jesuit  dictum  in  their  method, 
**Give  me  a  child  for  the  first  seven  years  of  his 
life,  and  you  can  have  him  afterward." 

There  is  no  doubt  an  advantage  in  this  early 
memorizing  of  the  fundamentals  of  the  faith,  this 
incessant  repetition  of  their  brief  creed.    On  the 

199 


200     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

other  hand,  it  is  true  that  it  develops  not  thought- 
ful faith,  but  a  narrow,  intolerant,  unthinking 
fanaticism.  Professor  McNaughton  of  Smyrna 
testifies  that  Moslem  religious  education  does  not 
produce  moral  character,  and  that  this  is  not  their 
intention.  Religion  is  rather  *  *  one  of  the  customs 
of  the  country  which  must  be  observed.  It  is  a 
conspicuous  fact  that  a  very  large  number  of 
Moslem  young  men,  when  they  leave  the  higher 
schools,  are  agnostics  if  not  wholly  irreligious, 
showing  how  little  the  early  teaching  of  the  Koran 
and  liturgy  has  affected  their  characters.'^  And 
Mr.  Purdon  of  Tunis  adds  that  in  his  experience 
**the  Moslem  system  stupefies  rather  than  culti- 
vates the  brain  and  renders  it  irresponsive  to  any 
effort  that  seeks  to  lead  it  to  appreciate  the  spirit 
of  any  text."  Lane  in  his  *^ Modern  Egyptians'' 
thus  sums  up  the  result  in  that  country:  **Thel 
Moslem  child  receives  lessons  of  religious  pride 
and  learns  to  hate  the  Christians  and  all  other 
sects  but  their  own,  as  thoroughly  as  does  the 
Muslim  of  advanced  age." 

We  must,  however,  acknowledge  that  these 
early  impressions,  produced  partly  by  imitation 
and  partly  by  the  memorizing  of  religious  phrases 
from  the  Koran,  have  a  lasting  effect.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  Bible  in  the  public  school  has  never 
been  raised  in  the  world  of  Islam.  The  only  pub- 
lic school  that  Islam  has  ever  known  has  been  the 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     201 

school  of  one  book  for  children,  namely,  the 
Koran. 

Like  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, or  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Christendom,  the 
fundamentals  of  Moslem  belief  and  practice  are 
the  same  from  Morocco  to  the  Philippines  and 
from  Constantinople  to  Cape  Town.  An  intelli- 
gent child  in  Cairo,  Samarkand,  Tabriz,  Baghdad, 
and  Calcutta  would  give  the  same  answer  to  the 
question.  What  do  you  believe,  and  what  are  the 
pillars  of  religion?  He  would  say:  ^*I  must  be- 
lieve in  God,  in  His  angels.  His  books.  His 
prophets,  in  a  future  life,  and  in  predestination 
of  good  and  evil;  and  I  must,  when  I  grow  up, 
bear  witness  to  the  faith,  rise  to  prayer,  give  alms, 
fast  in  the  month  of  fasting,  and  go  on  pilgrimage 
if  I  can  afford  it. ' ' 

What  the  Moslem  conception  of  God  is  we  know 
from  their  literature,  and  how  their  conception 
differs  from  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  Palgrave  and  others  have  indicated. 
He  is  a  God  of  power,  a  tremendous  autocrat,  the 
pantheism  of  force.  Moslems  love  to  define  Him 
and  His  attributes  negatively  rather  than  posi- 
tively. To  the  mind  of  a  child  God  must  appear 
like  an  Almighty,  Oriental  despot.  He  is  merciful 
and  compassionate  to  those  that  obey  Him  and 
His  Prophet,  but  He  is  also  the  proud,  the  terrible, 
the  avenger  who  creates  hell  and  fills  it  with  in- 


CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

fidels.  The  Koran  does  not  reveal  Him  as  a  God 
of  little  children.  Islam  is  a  religion  for  adult 
men  and  not  for  women  and  children,  as  the  poet 
Alfred  Austin  wrote  at  Constantinople : 

"  Now  vesper  brings  the  sunset  hour, 

And  where  crusading  knight  once  trod. 
Muezzin  from  his  minaret  tower 

Proclaiips,  *  There  is  no  God  but  God.* 

"Male  God  who  shares  His  godhead  with 
No  virgin  mother's  sacred  tear. 
But  finds  on  earth  congenial  kith 
In  weddings  of  the  sword  and  spear. 

"Male  God  who  on  male  lust  bestows 
The  ruddy  lip,  the  rounded  limb. 
And  promises  at  battle's  close 
Houris — not  saint  or  seraphim." 

Yet  the  consciousness  of  this  God,  of  His  pres- 
ence and  of  His  power,  is  deeply  impressed  upon 
the  mind  of  a  child.  Not  the  thought  that  God 
is  One,  but  that  God  is  must  be  considered  the 
great  contribution  of  Islam  religiously.  Moslem 
children  may  be  godless  in  their  conduct,  but  no 
Moslem  child  is  godless  in  his  thought. 

Of  the  belief  in  angels,  spirits,  and  demons  we 
have  already  spoken.  The  world  of  jinn  is  very 
close  to  the  life  of  the  Moslem  child.  For  pro- 
tection against  the  evils  of  this  spirit  world  noth- 
ing is  so  efficacious  as  the  Book  of  God.  Whether 
its  contents  be  used  as  an  amulet  or  as  a  prayer, 
it  is  a  remedy  for  every  ill  and  the  guide  to  truth 
and  safety. 


u/vr      bb      y     u;^    ^1^-     ^, 

THE    CRT    OP   THE   DROWNINQ 

An  Appeal  for  Education  made  by  the  Moslems  to  their  own 
people  in  Syria. 


>  ^m^  ^>»  tf  .^x  ^  ^  •   •    •^ 


X^>     >»•>    •>        -^^^ 


••t     ^  tjf     ••^      ^m^i^^%A. 


A  PAGE   PROM   A  MOSLEM   CHILD'S   PRIMER 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     203 

Islam  is  a  book  religion,  and  the  little  child  is 
no  less  fanatical  in  its  devotion  to  the  Book  of 
God,  called  the  Noble  Koran,  than  its  elders.  All 
Moslems  hold  most  strongly  the  fact  of  a  revela- 
tion, and  this  is  undoubtedly  a  great  advance  on 
many  other  non- Christian  religions.  They  put 
the  highest  value  possible  on  the  Word  of  God 
as  revealed  to  men.  With  jealous  care  the  Koran 
has  been  guarded,  and  the  book  itself  has  been 
reverenced  with  almost  superstitious  awe.  The 
Moslem  child  soon  learns  that  this  book  must 
never  be  thrown  idly  on  the  ground,  nor  even 
placed  underneath  any  other  volume  on  the  table 
or  the  shelf.  It  occupies  the  highest  place  of 
honour  even  in  the  humblest  dwelling,  and  is  gen- 
erally covered  with  a  green  leather  or  green  silk 
case  to  protect  it  from  dust  and  from  ritual  im- 
purity. And  it  is  very  common,  as  Bishop  Lef  roy 
tells  us  in  regard  to  India,  *^for  the  whole  book 
to  be  learnt  off  by  heart  in  Arabic  and  that  by 
boys  of  twelve  and  thirteen  years  old  who  do  not 
understand  a  word  of  its  meaning!  Imagine  an 
English  boy  being  asked  to  learn  by  heart — merely 
by  sound  and  without  any  understanding — the  Old 
Testament  in  Hebrew!  I  am  not  of  course  con- 
cerned now  with  the  fearfully  mechanical  and  in- 
tellectually injurious  character  of  this  exercise — 
its  inevitable  effect  in  stunting  the  higher  powers 
of  the  mind  and  subordinating  everything  else  to 


204    CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

a  gigantic  effort  of  the  memory.  This  we  can  all 
understand.  But  at  least  the  tribute  to  the  dig- 
nity of  God's  Word  stands  out  clear,  and  might 
well  shame  many  of  us.'' 

When  we  consider  the  contents  of  the  Koran, 
however,  this  true  tribute  to  their  zeal  loses  some 
of  its  value.  It  is  a  zeal  not  according  to  knowl- 
edge. Less  than  one-fourth  of  all  Moslem  chil- 
dren have  Arabic  as  their  mother  tongue.  To  the 
rest  the  Koran  means  nothing,  and  to  those  few 
boys  and  girls  who  are  able  to  read  the  Koran  at 
all  intelligently,  its  contents  offer  very  little  that 
appeals  to  the  child  religiously,  or  can  be  grasped 
by  their  minds  and  hearts.  The  illustration,  page 
203,  is  from  a  Moslem  primer  for  children,  and 
these  two  chapters  of  the  Koran,  as  well  as  other 
short  chapters,  are  to  be  learned  by  heart.  The 
language  is  so  obscure  that  few  adults  can  under- 
stand its  meaning.    Here  follows  the  translation: 

The  Backbiter. 

**In  the  name  of  the  merciful  and  compassionate 

God. 
Woe  to  every  slanderous  backbiter,  who  collects 

wealth  and  counts  it. 
He  thinks  that  his  wealth  can  immortalize  him. 
Not  so !  he  shall  be  hurled  into  El  Hutamah. 
And  what  shall  make  thee  understand  what  El 

Hutamah  is  I — the  fire  of  God  kindled ;  which 

rises  above  the  hearts. 
Verily,  it  is  an  archway  over  them  on  long-drawn 

columns." 


PICTURE   OF    NOAH  S    ARK 

This  was  published  as  a  large  wall  chromo  in  colours  and  ex- 
tensively sold  in  Cairo.  It  represents  Noah,  with  the  Prophet's 
veil,  and  his  sons.  The  artist  had  difficulty  in  finding  room 
for  all  the  animals  even  with  the  peacock  perched  on  the 
mast  and  the  serpent  with  his  head  through  the  porthole. 


L    '~^^l 

^^'^jflflii^Hli^l^SI 

1^  J! 

r%« 

f '^r     JMB 

\  ^ 

L 

^Ka 

r 

sf  I^^^MF 

■ 

^*i»^  ^'*          jsi«*^^ 

^^^m-.^m^^md^ 

PICTURE   OF    THE  SACRIFICE   OF    ISHMAEL    BY    ABRAHAM 
AND    HIS   RESCUE 

Moslems  believe  that  it  was  not  Isaac  who  was  to  be  offered,  and 
that  an  angel  brought  the  ram  from  the  thicket.  In  com- 
memoration of  this  event  a  great  Moslem  feast  is  held  every 
year,  and  sacrifices  are  made  not  only  at  Mecca  but  in 
every  part  of  the  Moslem  world. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    205 

The  Elephant. 

**In  the  name  of  the  merciful  and  compassionate 
God. 

Hast  thou  not  seen  what  thy  Lord  did  with  the 
fellows  of  the  elephant? 

Did  He  not  make  their  stratagem  lead  them 
astray,  and  send  down  on  them  birds  in  flocks, 
to  throw  down  on  them  stones  of  baked  clay, 
and  make  them  like  blades  of  herbage  eaten 
downr' 

The  most  interesting  portions  of  the  Koran  and 
of  the  Traditions  are  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets,  of  Jesus,  and  of  Mohammed. 
These  would  naturally  appeal  to  a  child,  but  they 
are  told  so  disconnectedly,  without  order  or  se- 
quence, and  are  so  fearfully  muddled,  that  the  net 
result  does  not  impress  us.  A  Moslem  boy,  for 
example,  able  to  read,  would  find  the  following 
account  of  Noah  and  the  ark,  sometimes  illus- 
trated by  crude  pictures,  like  the  one  we  repro- 
duce in  the  text.  This  picture  is  printed  in  col- 
ours at  Cairo,  and  sold  on  the  streets.  The 
story  of  Noah  as  given  in  Moslem  books  is  as 
follows : 

**By  God's  command  Nuh  had  first  of  all  to 
plant  the  trees  necessary  for  the  building  of  the 
ark,  and  he  planted  plane-trees.  During  the  forty 
years  that  these  were  growing  no  children  were 
born  on  earth.  Being  asked  what  form  the  ark 
was  to  assume,  God  answered  that  the  upper  part 


a06     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  the  back  were  to  be  like  that  of  a  cock  and 
the  hull  also  to  be  like  the  body  of  a  bird,  and  that 
it  was  to  have  three  stories.  The  dimensions  are 
variously  given;  according  to  the  *  possessors  of 
a  scripture'  it  was  eighty  (sic)  ells  long,  fifty 
broad,  and  thirty  high;  according  to  other  state- 
ments the  dimensions  were  six  hundred  and  sixty, 
three  hundred  and  thirty,  and  thirty-three  ells. 
The  ark  was  nailed  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  cov- 
ered with  pitch  internally  and  externally;  God 
caused  a  spring  of  pitch  to  well  forth  for  this 
special  purpose. — On  one  occasion  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  asked  their  Master  to  raise  a  man  from 
the  dead  who  would  tell  them  what  the  ark  was 
like.  Jesus  raised  up  Sam,  the  son  of  Nuh,  from 
a  piece  of  earth,  and  he  told  them  that  the  ark 
was  1,200  ells  long,  600  broad,  and  had  three 
stories,  one  for  quadrupeds,  one  for  birds,  and  the 
third  for  human  beings.  When  the  accumulation 
of  excrement  became  a  nuisance,  Nuh  seized  the 
tail  of  an  elephant  and  from  it  was  produced  a 
pair  of  swine  which  devoured  the  excrement ;  the 
mice  became  a  plague,  so  he  struck  the  lion  on 
the  forehead  and  a  pair  of  cats  came  forth  from 
its  nose  and  destroyed  the  mice." 

This  story  of  course  is  the  traditional  account 
enlarged  from  the  statements  found  in  the 
Koran. 

It  is  more  important  for  us  to  ask  what  the 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    207 

Moslem  boy  or  girl  believes  in  regard  to  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  often  referred  to  in 
the  Koran,  receives  high  titles,  and  is  considered 
one  of  the  greater  prophets,  sinless  in  life  and 
exalted  to  high  station  in  heaven.  Yet  we  must 
add  that  there  is  hardly  an  important  fact  con- 
cerning the  life  of  our  Saviour,  His  person  and 
His  work,  which  is  not  passed  over,  perverted,  or 
contradicted  by  the  Koran ;  especially  is  this  true 
in  regard  to  His  Sonship,  His  deity,  and  His 
atoning  death.  Moslem  children  are  very  ready, 
when  they  meet  Christians,  to  repeat  some  of 
these  Koran  verses  which  have  for  centuries  been 
the  proof  texts  against  Christians  for  the  truth 
of  Islam.  **The  Messiah,  the  son  of  Mary,  is  only 
a  prophet.  Prophets  before  him  have  passed 
away,  and  his  mother  was  a  confessor ;  they  both 
used  to  eat  food."  Or,  in  another  place:  **God 
could  not  take  to  Himself  any  son.  The  likeness 
of  Jesus  with  God  is  as  the  likeness  of  Adam. 
He  created  him  from  the  earth ;  then  He  said  *  Be ! ' 
and  he  was."  And  in  another  text:  **The  Chris- 
tians say  that  the  Messiah  is  the  son  of  God! 
Such  are  the  sayings  in  their  mouths !  They  re- 
semble the  saying  of  the  unbelievers  of  old.  God 
curse  them !  How  they  lie !  They  take  their  doc- 
tors and  their  monks  and  the  Messiah,  the  son  of 
Mary,  for  Lords  rather  than  God." 
Although  the  Koran  emphatically  denies  the 


208     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

death  of  Jesus  on  the  cross,  yet  in  some  of  the 
Moslem  traditions  there  is  an  account  which  in 
some  respects  resembles  that  of  the  Gospels.  The 
following  is  taken  from  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
books  on  the  subject : 

*'And  they  spat  upon  Him  and  put  thorns  upon 
Him;  and  they  erected  the  wood  to  crucify  Him 
upon  it.  And  when  they  came  to  crucify  Him 
upon  the  tree,  the  earth  was  darkened,  and  God 
sent  angels,  and  they  descended  between  them 
and  between  Jesus;  and  they  cast  the  likeness 
df  Jesus  upon  him  who  had  betrayed  Him,  and 
his  name  was  Judas.  And  they  crucified  him  in 
His  stead,  and  they  thought  that  they  crucified 
Jesus.  Then  God  made  Jesus  to  die  for  three 
hours,  and  then  raised  Him  up  to  heaven;  and 
this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Koran  verse,  *  Verily, 
I  will  cause  Thee  to  die,  and  raise  Thee 
unto  Me,  arid  purify  Thee  above  those  who  dis- 
believe.' '' 

Yet  none  of  these  stories  are  in  any  way  pre- 
pared and  adapted  for  the  mind  of  the  child. 
There  are  no  religious  books  for  children,  no  re- 
ligious songs  for  children,  no  prayers  specially 
prepared  for  children  anywhere  in  the  Moslem 
worfd.  All  that  Islam  has  done  is  to  select  por- 
tions of  the  ritual  or  scraps  from  the  books  of 
theology,  and  compel  the  children  to  learn  them 
by  heart  without  understanding  them. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    W9 

"  I  think,  when  I  read  that  sweet  story  of  old, 

When  Jesus  was  here  among  men, 
How  He  call'd  little  children  as  lambs  to  His  fold, 

I  wish  they  had  been  with  Him  then. 
I  wish  that  His  hands  had  been  placed  on  their  heads. 

That  His  arm  had  been  thrown  around  them, 
And  that  they  might  have  seen  His  kind  look  when  He  said, 

*  Let  the  little  ones  come  unto  Me.' " 


It  is  the  women  of  the  household  who  first 
teach  the  child  unwritten  fragments  of  sacred 
history,  distorted  still  more  in  their  superstitious 
and  ignorant  minds.  It  is  they,  for  example,  in 
the  words  of  Dr.  Dwight,  who  *' explain  the 
cleft  tail  of  the  swallow  as  a  reminiscence 
of  her  good  deed  in  warning  Adam  of  the  ma- 
licious schemes  of  the  serpent;  for  the  serpent 
in  wrath  struck  at  the  swallow  and  missed  all  but 
the  tail  which  bears  the  wedge-shaped  slash  of 
the  serpent ^s  jaws  to  this  day;  they  teach  him 
never  to  burn  the  wood  of  the  almond  tree,  for 
Aaron's  rod  that  budded  was  a  branch  from  the 
almond ;  they  teach  him  bits  of  eschatology ;  how 
one  must  pray  for  death  to  come  on  a  Friday, 
when  all  the  people  join  in  worship,  since  on  that 
day  the  Recording  Angel  is  too  busy  with  the 
good  to  question  the  bad,  thus  leaving  to  those 
who  need  it  a  loophole  of  escape  from  the  conse- 
quences of  a  reckless  life ;  they  teach  him  to  judge 
between  the  good  and  the  bad  before  the  last  day, 
for  an  old  man  whose  beard  grows  white  at  the 


SIO     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

side  first  is  sure  to  be  a  good  man,  whereas  a  bad 
man's  beard  whitens  first  in  the  middle. *' 

Whatever  conversation  there  may  be  with  chil- 
dren in  regard  to  religion,  we  may  be  sure  that 
the  Day  of  Judgment  and  a  description  of  heaven 
and  hell  occupies  a  large  place.  These  doctrines 
were  very  prominently  before  the  mind  of  Mo- 
hammed himself.  The  terrors  of  that  day  of  days, 
which  he  called  the  day  of  separation,  the  day  of 
reckoning,  or  simply  the  Hour,  are  most  graph- 
ically and  terribly  portrayed.  A  belief  in  the  fu- 
ture life  and  in  eternal  rewards  and  punishments 
is  fundamental  to  Islam.  Among  the  best-selling 
books  in  all  literary  centres  are  those  that  deal 
with  eschatology,  describing  with  gross  literalism 
the  character  of  the  resurrection  and  the  physical 
joys  of  believers  and  the  physical  tortures  of  the 
damned.  Parents  doubtless  tell  their  children 
something  of  all  this :  how  the  souls  of  the  martyrs 
of  the  faith  remain,  after  death,  in  the  crops  of 
green  birds,  which  eat  of  the  fruit  and  drink  of 
the  rivers  of  Paradise:  how  the  dead  are  raised 
and  stand  up  for  judgment ;  of  the  eight  heavens, 
each  exceeding  the  other  in  glory,  gardens  of  de- 
light with  rivers  of  milk  and  wine  and  honey  and 
all  kinds  of  fruit.  But  the  Moslem  paradise  is, 
after  all,  not  a  place  for  children.  Its  delights, 
as  pictured  in  the  Koran,  are  for  the  adult.  How 
utterly  different  must  be  the  child's  conception  of 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     211 

the  life  beyond  to  that  of  the  Christian  child  who 
sings: 

"Around  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven 
Ten  thousand  children  stand; 
Children  whose  sins  are  all  forgiven, 
A  holy,  happy  band." 

Of  the  hell  of  Islam,  the  name  of  which  is  so 
constantly  on  the  lips  even  of  little  children,  the 
less  said  the  better.  According  to  the  Koran,  its 
fuel  is  men  and  stones,  its  drink  liquid  pus,  the 
clothes  of  its  inhabitants  burning  pitch,  and  ser- 
pents and  scorpions  sting  their  victims  eternally. 

We  give  Islam  credit  for  the  almost  universal 
belief  that  hell  is  not  a  place  for  little  children. 
Their  doctrine  of  the  child  ^s  irresponsibility  and 
unaccountability  until  the  age  of  puberty,  nat- 
urally- leads  them  to  believe  that  all  children  are 
saved.  Most  of  the  Moslem  sects  include  in  this 
hope  of  salvation  the  children  of  unbelievers  as 
well.  One  thing  is  certain :  that  Moslem  children 
of  parents  who  believe  were  eternally  predestined 
to  Paradise.  Their  fatalism  in  this  particular  is 
a  ray  of  hope.  One  of  the  most  touching  incidents 
in  the  life  of  Mohammed  the  prophet  is  that  of 
the  death  of  his  little  son  Ibrahim,  scarcely  two 
years  old.  **It  is  with  pure  compassion, ' '  says 
Marcus  Dods,  in  speaking  of  this  event,  ^^we  are 
spectators  of  the  bitter  grief  and  uncontrollable 
sobbings  of  the  strong  man,  and  hear  at  last,  as 


2ia     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

he  puts  the  little  body  back  into  the  nurse's  arms, 
his  simple  pious  lamentation,  *  Ibrahim,  0  Ibra- 
him! if  it  were  not  that  the  promise  is  faithful 
and  the  hope  of  resurrection  sure — if  it  were  not 
that  this  is  the  way  to  be  trodden  by  all,  and  the 
last  of  us  shall  join  the  first — I  would  grieve  for 
thee  with  a  grief  deeper  even  than  this. '  ' ' 

We  turn  now  to  a  consideration  of  the  religious 
practices  of  Islam  as  far  as  they  concern  child- 
hood. The  earliest  and  most  general  religious  act 
of  childhood  is  undoubtedly  the  repetition  of  the 
creed,  or  what  is  called  ** bearing  witness  to  God.'' 
As  soon  as  the  Moslem  child  can  lisp  it  is  taught 
the  name  of  the  Prophet  and  the  testimony  to 
God's  unity.  The  short  creed  is  easily  learned 
and  often  repeated,  especially  in  proud  fanaticism 
by  Moslem  children  in  the  midst  of  a  Christian  or 
other  non-Moslem  environment.  In  primers  and 
books  on  religion  this  creed  is  amplified  as  follows : 
**I  witness  that  there  is  no  god  but  God,  and 
I  witness  that  Mohammed  is  His  servant  and 
apostle.  0  God!  pray  for  our  Lord  Mohammed 
and  for  his  family,  as  Thou  didst  pray  for  our 
Lord  Abraham  and  his  family ;  0  God !  bless  our 
Lord  Mohammed  and  his  family,  as  Thou  didst 
bless  our  Lord  Abraham  and  his  family,  in  the 
two  worlds,  for  Thou  art  the  Praiseworthy  and 
the  Glorious." 

It  is  considered  a  virtue  for  every  one,  even 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    213 

children,  to  repeat  the  Moslem  creed  on  every  oc- 
casion. They  hear  it  not  only  from  the  minaret 
five  times  daily,  but  it  is  used  as  a  word  of  affirma- 
tion, and  almost  incessantly  the  name  of  Moham- 
med the  prophet  is  on  the  lips  of  his  followers, 
never  without  the  addition  of  a  prayer. 


Moslem  parents  of  the  old  school  will  gravely 
inform  their  children  that  when  God  created 
Adam,  he  was  made  in  the  image  of  the  name  of 
Mohammed  as  it  was  written  from  all  eternity  on 
the  throne  of  God,  the  Arabic  letters  forming  dif- 
ferent members  of  the  body ;  and  they  will  go  on  to 
say  that  the  different  postures  of  the  daily  prayer 
are  in  accordance  with  his  other  name  Ahmed.  As 
we  have  seen,  children  are  supposed  to  be  taught 
these  postures  of  prayer  at  the  age  of  seven,  but 
they  imitate  their  elders  when  they  observe  them 
performing  the  ritual,  still  earlier.  In  Afghan- 
istan, Frank  A.  Martin  tells  us,  a  beautiful  custom 
is  observed.  In  time  of  cholera,  earthquake,  or 
other  calamity,  parents  will  collect  their  children 
on  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  there  teach  them 
to  sing  prayers  in  unison.  **The  children,  being 
more  innocent  than  their  elders,  their  prayers  are 
supposed  to  be  more  readily  listened  to.     The 


214     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

roofs  of  the  houses  are  all  close  together,  and  it 
is  pleasant  to  see  the  groups  of  children  standing 
in  lines  on  the  different  roofs,  and  listen  to  them 
singing  the  prayers  with  their  clear  young 
voices."  I  have  observed  a  similar  custom  in 
East  Arabia  during  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  for 
which  there  are  special  prayers  in  the  Moslem 
ritual. 

When  children  pray  the  ritual  prayers,  they  are, 
of  course,  supposed  to  follow  every  detail  upon 
which  acceptable  Moslem  prayer  depends.  Prayer 
is  always  preceded  by  purification  which  consists 
of  ablutions  and  washings  against  all  legal  and 
ceremonial  impurities.  The  child  very  early  is 
taught  the  religious  duty  of  abstersion,  or  the 
cleaning  of  one 's  self  with  pebbles  or  water ;  also 
the  partial  ablution  called  wudhu,  and  the  total 
ablution  or  bathing,  both  when  it  is  required  and 
how  it  is  to  be  performed.  Children  of  the  desert 
learn  how  to  perform  ablution,  in  accordance  with 
the  custom  of  the  Prophet,  with  sand.  I  have  seen 
Bedouin  children,  when  the  call  to  prayer  was 
given,  dismount  from  the  camel,  devoutly  slip 
down,  and  after  shovelling  the  sand  aside  with 
their  bare  feet,  rub  some  of  it  on  their  hands  as 
all  pious  Moslems  do,  turn  their  little  faces  to- 
ward Mecca,  and  kneel  in  prayer.  Nowhere  in  the 
Koran  or  even  in  the  Traditions  is  there  any 
reference  to  moral  purity  as  a  preparation  for 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     215 

prayer.  Ghazali  and  other  mystics  pretend  that 
the  purification  referred  to  is  the  inward  purifi- 
cation of  the  heart ;  but  it  is  well  known  that  all 
the  standard  works  on  the  proprieties  of  prayer 
contain  pages  of  most  minute,  obscene,  and  dis- 
gusting explanations  as  to  what  constitutes  phys- 
ical impurity,  and  do  not  allude  to  purity  of  the 
soul. 

This  teaching,  and  much  more  the  punctilious- 
ness of  their  parents  and  their  religious  leaders, 
commonly  produce  a  spirit  of  Pharisaism  in  the 
heart  and  mind  of  a  child.  Children  look  upon 
prayer  as  a  religious  duty,  as  a  passport  to  Para- 
dise, as  an  assurance  of  salvation;  something 
which,  if  neglected,  will  bring  grave  disaster  in 
the  world  to  come.  Prayer  to  them  is  not  a  privi- 
lege but  an  obligation.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
a  Moslem  who  conscientiously  performs  his  de- 
votions, recites  the  same  form  of  prayer  at  least 
seventy  times  daily!  The  words  they  use,  with 
slight  changes,  are  the  following  (translation  from 
a  manual  on  Moslem  prayer  published  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans at  Woking,  England) : 

'^ Glory  to  Thee,  O  Allah!  and  Thine  is  the 
praise,  and  blessed  is  Thy  name  and  exalted  is  Thy 
majesty,  and  there  is  none  to  be  served  besides 
Thee.  ...  I  betake  me  for  refuge  to  Allah  against 
the  accursed  Satan." 

**In  the  name   of  Allah  the   Beneficent,  the 


216     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

Merciful.  All  praise  is  due  to  Allah,  the  Lord 
of  the  worlds,  the  Beneficent,  the  Merciful ;  Master 
of  the  time  of  requital.  Thee  do  we  serve  and 
Thee  do  we  beseech  for  help.  Guide  us  in  the 
right  path,  the  path  of  those  upon  whom  Thou 
hast  bestowed  favours.  Not  of  those  upon  whom 
wrath  is  brought  down,  nor  of  those  who  go 
astray. ' ' 

**Say:  He — Allah  is  one,  Allah  is  He  of  whom 
nothing  is  independent.  He  begets  not,  nor  is 
He  begotten ;  and  none  is  like  Him.  Glory  to  my 
Lord  the  Great.'' 

These  words  are  beautiful  if  they  are  under- 
stood by  those  that  use  them.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  prayers  throughout  prac- 
tically the  whole  Moslem  world  are  only  said  in 
Arabic.  In  a  primer  on  prayer,  called  **The 
Muslim  Guide,"  and  published  by  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  Islam  (Bareilly,  Northwest 
India)  in  the  English  language,  all  the  details 
that  must  be  observed  for  the  correct  perform- 
ance of  this  duty  are  given.  One  has  only  to 
glance  through  this  book  to  realize  how  utterly 
foreign  the  Moslem  notion  of  prayer  is  to  the 
Christian  idea, — 

"Prayer  is  the  simplest  form  of  speech 
That  infant  lips  can  try; 
Prayer  the  subliraest  strains  that  reach 
The  Majesty  on  high. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    217 

"  Prayer  is  the  burden  of  a  sigh, 
The  falling  of  a  tear, 
The  upward  glancing  of  an  eye, 
When  none  but  God  is  near." 


*^The  Muslim  Guide''  tells  us:  ** Every  Muslim 
must  pray  five  times  every  day,  if  possible  in  com- 
pany with  others,  and  should  never  neglect  prayer 
out  of  idleness.  The  Prophet  said,  *  Whoever  will 
perform  his  prayer  punctually,  that  prayer  will 
be  a  light  or  guidance  for  him;  whoever  is  not 
punctual  in  prayer  will  not  receive  salvation.' 
The  Prophet  has  ordered  every  Muslim  to  instruct 
his  children  to  perform  prayer  at  the  age  of  seven, 
and  to  punish  them  for  not  performing  the  nimaz 
on  their  attaining  the  age  of  ten  years. ' ' 

The  same  idea  that  prayer  is  a  duty  to  be  forced 
upon  children  rather  than  a  privilege  to  be  taught 
them,  is  expressed  in  exactly  the  same  words  in 
the  ** Manual  for  Moral  Education"  used  in  the 
government  schools  of  Cairo.  I  quote  from  the 
twelfth  edition,  1911  a.d.,  page  24. 

**Q.  How  many  prayers  are  necessary  every 
day  and  night? 

**A.  The  prayers  required  from  every  Moslem 
who  is  of  sound  mind  and  has  attained  puberty, 
whether  he  be  male  or  female,  are  five.  Children 
should  be  commanded  to  pray  when  they  are 
seven  years  old  and  beaten  until  they  do,  at 
ten." 


218     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

In  lands  that  are  still  under  Moslem  rule,  such 
as  Afghanistan  and  Central  Arabia,  a  special 
scourge  made  of  a  flat  piece  of  leather  or  twisted 
thongs  is  used  by  the  public  censor  on  morals  and 
religion  for  driving  men  to  prayer.  This  scourge 
is  called  dirrah  or  saut.  I  have  witnessed  its  use 
at  Zobeir  and  in  Hassa,  Arabia. 

In  the  religious  life  of  the  Moslem  child  the 
mosque  undoubtedly  holds  a  large  place.  Al- 
though it  is  in  no  sense  a  children's  church,  and 
no  special  services  are  ever  held  for  children, 
it  is  the  centre  of  religious  life  and  display.  The 
mpsque  is  the  representation  of  the  glory  of  Is- 
lam. This  is  especially  true,  of  course,  in  the 
great  cities,  such  as  Cairo,  Constantinople,  Bagh- 
dad, Samarkand,  Bokhara,  Delhi,  Lucknow, 
Mecca,  etc.  In  the  history  of  Islam  the  mosque 
has  occupied  a  place  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
monastery  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  at  once  the 
place  of  prayer  and  of  seclusion,  the  school,  the 
library,  the  hospital,  and  the  university.  Seated 
on  the  floors  of  these  great  mosques,  where  often 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  students  receive  re- 
ligious training,  one  may  see  side  by  side  grey- 
bearded  men  and  little  children.  The  professors 
who  teach  occupy  the  places  of  honour  on  a  rug 
of  sheepskin  beside  some  pillar,  and  the  students 
are  grouped  around.  The  law  of  equality  obtains 
in  Islam,  and  the  son  of  the  pasha  may  be  seated 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    219 

beside  a  poor  youth  scantily  dressed  in  coarse 
cotton.  Few,  however,  are  the  children  that  ob- 
tain this  church  privilege  in  Islam.  Even  those 
that  do  often  find  the  mosque  a  place  of  gross 
and  immoral  temptation  rather  than  the  house  of 
God.  Witness,  for  example,  the  testimony  of  all 
travellers  who  have  visited  Mecca  ^  and  the  con- 
ditions that  are  known  to  obtain  in  the  great 
mosques  of  Cairo,  Kerbela,  and  Constantinople. 
Girls  are  not  usually  admitted  to  the  mosque 
schools,  but  in  villages  exceptions  are  made,  and 
in  some  parts  of  the  Moslem  world  special  schools 
for  girls  are  conducted  in  rooms  adjoining  the 
mosque. 

Moslems  themselves  do  not  agree  as  to  the  re- 
sult of  this  kind  of  religious  training.  Justice 
Abdur  Rahim  in  an  address  to  the  graduates  of 
a  Madras  school,  said : 

**  Every  Mohammedan  child  has  his  ears  filled 
with  the  cry  of  *  God  is  great  and  there  is  no  God 
but  God,'  the  God  who  to  him  is  the  embodiment 
of  the  highest  perfection ;  he  is  taught  not  to  begin 
any  work  or  duty  of  the  day  or  any  undertaking 
of  life,  great  or  small,  but  in  the  name  of  *God' 
the  kind,  the  merciful ;  he  learns  to  thank  the  Al- 
mighty whenever  his  efforts  are  crowned  with 
success  and  to  trust  in  Him  all  the  more  if  he 
fails,  to  bend  the  knees  of  devotion  every  now 

^C.  S'nouck  Hurgronje:  "Mekka,"  Vol.  II.  p.  11. 


220     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

and  then  each  day;  every  day  he  repeats  and 
pores  with  loving  reverence  over  the  words  of 
the  Qur'an,  whose  divine  eloquence  has  an  abid- 
ing place  in  every  Mohammedan's  heart;  he  is 
brought  up  to  find  the  keenest  pleasure  in  the 
practice  of  the  most  rigid  self-denial  for  one 
month  in  each  year,  and  the  practice  of  charity 
and  kindness  towards  his  neighbours  is  impressed 
upon  him  as  a  legal  duty  and  a  high  spiritual 
privilege.  Thus  brought  up  a  Mohammedan 
youth  can  be  trusted  never  to  swerve  from  his 
faith.'' 

But  one  of  his  own  countrymen,  Mr.  S.  Khuda 
Bukhsh,  a  Moslem  who  was  graduated  at  Oxford, 
in  replying  to  this  statement,  writes: 

**It  is  love  rather  than  fear,  the  forgiving  rather 
than  the  severe,  the  merciful  rather  than  the  cruel 
character  of  Divinity  that  we  should  impress  upon 
our  children.  And  this  is  exactly  what  we  do  not 
do.  Why  not  teach  them  that  prayer  is  accepta- 
ble to  God  and  you  should  therefore  pray ;  charity 
pleasing  unto  Him  and  you  should  therefore  be 
charitable ;  fasting  a  divine  ordinance,  for  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  body  and  soul,  and  therefore  you 
should  fast;  pilgrimage  to  Mekka  an  institution 
to  draw  you  nearer  unto  His  prophet,  and  there- 
fore you  should  make  a  pilgrimage?  Would  not 
this  be  more  appealing  to  childhood,  *  bright  as 
truth  and  frailer  than  a  toy,'  than  the  doctrine 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     221 

that  for  disobedience  the  punishment  is  eternal, 
enduring  hell-fire?  And  above  all,  why  not  teach 
them  the  supremest  of  all  religious  lessons — the 
lesson  that  no  service  of  bended  knee  or  of  hum- 
bled head  is  of  any  avail  if  the  heart  is  not  pure 
and  the  hand  not  clean? 

**Then  Mr.  Abdur  Rahim  speaks  of  the  un- 
ceasing study  of  the  Qur'an.  Yes!  children  are 
taught  the  Qur'an.  It  is  almost  the  first  book 
that  they  read.  But  how  do  they  read  it?  It  is 
as  well  that  we  should  be  disenchanted  and  know 
the  truth.  The  land  of  dreams  is  so  rich,  so  beau- 
tiful, so  new,  but  alas !  it  will  not  help  us  in  grap- 
pling with  our  difficulties,  in  rectifying  our  de- 
fects. We  will  not  recline  in  a  false  security  nor 
will  we  solve  the  problem  by  overlooking  its  dif- 
ficulties. Yes!  the  Qur'an  is  taught,  but  in  how 
many  well-regulated  houses  do  the  boys  know  suf- 
ficient Arabic  to  understand  the  language  of  God? 
They  read  the  Qur'an  like  parrots,  without  know- 
ing what  it  means.  Its  sweetness  is  wasted  on 
the  desert  air.  Is  such  study  likely  to  have  any 
influence  over  their  thought  and  conduct  ?  I  most 
distinctly  hold  not.  I  consider  the  years  spent 
over  the  study  of  the  Qur'an  in  this  fashion  as 
years  utterly  wasted  and  thrown  away.  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  so  far  as  a  sound,  substan- 
tial spiritual  teaching  is  concerned  the  Moham- 
medan youth  has  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing." 


CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

The  fast  of  Eamadhan  is  absolutely  obligatory 
on  every  Moslem  who  has  reached  the  age  of 
puberty.  Very  young  children,  idiots,  the  sick, 
the  aged,  and  mothers  who  are  nursing  children 
are  exempted.  This  recurring  period  of  religious 
fanaticism,  of  total  abstinence  from  food  and 
drink  during  the  daytime,  with  the  extra  indul- 
gence in  sweetmeats  and  other  luxuries  at  night, 
doubtless  leave  a  strong  impression  on  the  mind 
of  the  child.  The  fast  begins  at  the  appearance 
of  the  new  moon,  and  children  watch  with  eager- 
ness for  its  appearance  both  at  the  beginning  and 
at  the  end  of  the  month.  For  its  observance  there 
is  no  qualification  necessary,  or  learning  or  lei- 
sure, save  endurance,  and  in  this  virtue  Moslem 
women  and  children  learn  to  excel.  For  many, 
especially  of  the  poorer  classes,  the  fast  is  a  weary 
burden  when  it  falls  in  the  long  days  of  intense 
heat,  and  the  suffering  caused  is  very  severe.  Yet 
the  great  majority  of  Moslems  undergo  the  suf- 
fering cheerfully.  Multitudes  feign  observing  it, 
and  are  examples  of  hypocrisy  to  their  children. 
Those  that  are  faithful  store  up  merit  which  will 
be  to  their  credit  in  the  great  Day  of  Reckoning. 
Miss  Constance  Williams  tells  of  children  in 
Mymensingh,  Bengal,  who  although  only  seven  or 
eight  years  old  refuse  to  eat  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fast.  Great  virtue  is  gained  if  little  ones  ob- 
serve the  fast,  their  mothers  say,  and  the  children 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     223 

proudly  deny  themselves  as  long  as  they  can.  It 
it  quite  a  relief  to  us  when,  after  the  first  few 
days,  they  give  in  and  become  natural  boys  and 
girls  again.  But  every  year  they  fast  a  little 
longer,  until  they  are  able  to  abstain  from  food 
throughout  all  the  days  of  the  whole  long  month. 
At  night  fasting  gives  place  to  feasting.  Invita- 
tions are  freely  given  from  house  to  house,  and 
considerably  more  money  is  spent  in  food  during 
the  month  of  the  fast  than  in  any  other  month 
of  the  year." 

Her  description  is  typical  of  conditions  every- 
where. During  the  night  it  is  customary  to  in- 
dulge in  pleasure,  feasting,  and  dinner  parties. 
Some  of  these  are  of  a  religious  character,  but 
while  professional  readers  drone  the  Koran,  re- 
freshments are  passed  and  the  children  make 
merry  with  their  elders.  All  sweetmeat  sellers 
drive  a  brisk  trade  during  this  season.  The 
bazaars  are  lit  up  during  the  night,  even  in  coun- 
try villages,  and  the  child  learns  what  Mohammed 
meant  when  he  said,  *^God  will  make  the  fast 
easy  and  not  a  difficulty  for  you. ' '  So  great  is  the 
merit  of  fasting  during  Ramadhan  that  boys  will 
make  a  boast  of  the  fact  that  they  have  almost 
reached  manhood  because,  although  only  six  or 
seven  years  of  age,  they  already  keep  the 
fast. 

The  fourth  pillar  of  religion — the  giving  of 


2M     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

alms — has  no  special  relation  to  childhood,  save 
that  the  children  of  the  poor,  the  homeless,  and 
the  wayfarer  receive  their  share  of  the  cheerful 
hospitality  and  the  alms  given  by  rich  and  poor 
alike  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  the 
Prophet.  Hospitality  is  a  virtue  which  has  ex- 
tended from  the  tents  of  Shem  to  the  farthest  out- 
reach of  the  Moslem  world,  and  in  this  grace  the 
Moslems  are  in  many  respects  an  example  to 
other  races  and  religions. 

The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  which  is  considered 
the  last  of  the  great  duties,  has  a  twofold  rela- 
tion to  childhood.  It  must  impress  a  Moslem 
boy  in  Zanzibar,  or  Java,  or  Yarkand,  or  Peking, 
to  see  with  what  gladness  and  honour  the  pilgrims 
from  Mecca  are  welcomed  on  their  return  from 
the  holy  city.  They  wear  the  green  turban,  are 
the  heroes  of  the  market-place,  and  become  very 
often  fanatical  ambassadors  of  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  Islam.  Children  do  not  generally  make 
the  pilgrimage,  although  in  the  case  of  the 
Javanese  and  the  Indians,  we  are  told  that  hun- 
dreds of  boys,  and  even  girls,  make  the  long  jour- 
ney to  Mecca  in  the  pilgrim  ships. 

The  other  strong  influence  of  this  institution 
is  to  strengthen  the  esprit  de  corps,  and  give  some- 
what of  a  world  horizon  to  the  child.  Some  of 
the  Bedouin  children  accompany  the  great  pil- 
grim caravans  that  cross  the  peninsula;  others 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     225 

watch  the  hajj  as  it  starts  off  from  Damascus, 
Suez,  Bombay,  and  other  centres.  In  Cairo  the 
great  feast  day  of  the  year  is  that  on  which  the 
Mahmal  procession  starts  for  Mecca.  When  this 
annual  ceremony  takes  place  all  juvenile  Cairo 
is  on  the  streets,  and  every  Moslem  boy  and  girl 
is  anxious  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  sacred  carpet 
which  is  to  cover  the  Kaaba  at  Mecca. 

Of  the  religious  influence  of  the  pilgrimage 
upon  the  children  of  Mecca  itself,  one  dreads  to 
speak ;  nor  is  Mecca  the  only  great  pilgrim  centre 
where  all  that  is  best  and  worst  in  the  religion 
of  Islam  gravitates.  Kerbela,  Meshed  Ali,  Jeru- 
salem, Tanta  in  Egypt,  and  Kairwan  in  North 
Africa,  also  attract  tens  of  thousands  every  year. 
The  children  who  live  in  these  cities  have  an  ex- 
aggerated idea  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  Is- 
lam, and  are  distinguished  for  their  fanatic  devo- 
tion to  their  creed  and  their  prophet.  Dr.  Shedd 
writes  from  Persia  that  the  Muharram  celebra- 
tion, one  of  the  features  of  Islam  among  the 
Shiahs,  takes  hold  of  the  imagination  of  little 
children  who  imitate  the  gruesome  and  bloody 
ceremonies  of  this  Miracle  Play  in  memory  of  the 
martyr  death  of  Hussain  on  the  plains  of  Ker- 
bela. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  influences  on  Mos- 
lem childhood  as  regards  religion  is  that  of  saint 
worship^  both  of  the  living  and  of  the  dead.    Dead 


226     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

saints  abound  everywhere.  There  is  scarcely  a 
village  in  India,  in  Central  Asia,  or  in  North 
Africa  that  does  not  have  its  weli  or  patron  saint. 
Perhaps  Allah  was  too  far  removed  from  our 
common  humanity,  and  His  very  remoteness  made 
the  intercession  of  saints  a  necessary  part  of  the 
Moslem  religion;  or  it  may  be  that  this  feature 
was  introduced  from  Oriental  Christianity.  In 
any  case,  the  saint's  tomb  is  the  place  to  which 
the  mother  goes  in  her  need,  where  she  vows  so 
many  candles  to  be  burned  for  the  health  of  her 
child,  or  mourns  the  death  of  her  first-born.  As 
a  general  rule  these  saints  have  only  a  local 
celebrity.  Others  are  famous  throughout  a  con- 
siderable district.  As  Professor  E.  Montet  tells 
us  in  regard  to  North  Africa,  where  they  are 
called  marabouts,  ^^Some  are  such  by  right  of 
birth ;  foremost  among  them  are  the  sJierifs,  real 
or  pretended  descendants  of  Mohammed,  but  the 
special  path  to  sainthood  is  by  good  works,  sci- 
entific discoveries  (or  what  passes  for  such), 
asceticism,  withdrawal  from  the  world  to  a  re- 
ligious retreat,  mysticism,  so-called  miraculous 
power,  etc. ' '  In  regard  to  Baluchistan,  Mr.  Dixey 
says : 

**The  real  worship  among  all  these  people  con- 
sists in  veneration  for  so-called  saints  {pirs). 
Near  every  village  and  by  many  a  hillside  are  to 
be  seen  mud  erections  over  which,  tied  to  sticks, 


^  s 

o 


3   "^.2 


CO  eS 

§S.g 

O 


i-H  C5    CO 

I-H  ^^     DO 

CO  ^ 

^  H 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     227 

are  various  coloured  rags,  indicating  the  tomb 
of  a  holy  man,  or  Said,  and  before  these  tombs 
the  tribesmen  bow  in  prayer." 

It  is  the  living  saint,  however,  the  pir,  dervish, 
or  marabout,  for  they  go  by  different  names,  who 
is  also  respected  or  feared  by  childhood.  Many 
of  these  so-called  saints  are  madmen.  They  go 
about  in  tattered  garments,  with  matted  hair,  and 
are  often  utterly  impure  morally  and  physically. 
Mr.  Walter  writes : 

*  *  Of  mad  saints  there  are  many  in  Kashmir  to- 
day. They  are  held  in  great  respect  by  both 
Hindus  and  Mohammedans,  who  believe  them  to 
be  in  possession  of  the  secrets  of  God,  and  hence 
invaluable  as  fortune  tellers.  In  the  villages  some 
of  them  go  about  utterly  naked,  and  their  lan- 
guage is  unspeakably  vile.  During  my  own  resi- 
dence in  Kashmir  for  the  space  of  five  months  I 
saw  only  one,  who  was  surrounded  by  a  band  of 
followers  and  leering  upon  the  passers-by  out  of 
eyes  the  most  evil  I  have  ever  seen." 

Concerning  one  of  these  dervish  saints  in  Mo- 
rocco, Montet  says:  **He  was  an  old  man  of 
eighty  years,  strong  and  athletic  in  frame,  but 
a  total  idiot,  and  to  his  mental  infirmity  he  owed 
his  entire  reputation  for  holiness.  Among  other 
peculiarities,  he  had  a  special  predilection  for  a 
concoction  prepared  by  kneading  together  bran, 
honey,  butter,  hair,  and  earth.    Upon  this  strange 


228     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

mixture  he  fed  with  the  liveliest  pleasure.  ^He 
is  a  simple  creature,'  said  another  dervish  as  he 
watched  him,  *but  he  is  also  a  saint.  He  ought 
to  be  happy  since  he  neither  loves  nor  hates 
any  one.'  " 

Thousands  of  these  mendicants  wander  about 
the  Moslem  world.  They  travel  great  distances. 
One  may  see  a  Baghdad  dervish  at  Samarkand, 
or  one  of  the  pirs  from  the  Pan  jab  surrounded 
by  a  crowd  of  urchins  in  Morocco.  They  write 
talismans,  sell  amulets,  cast  out  demons,  and  ex- 
ercise a  superstitious  influence  generally  on  ig- 
norant people.  Our  illustration  shows  two  mara- 
bouts preaching  jihad,  or  religious  warfare,  to 
the  children  of  Algeria.  The  photograph  was 
taken  in  Kabylia. 

**To  the  left,"  writes  Miss  Trotter,  *^ stands 
a  tall  white  figure,  with  outstretched  arm — a  trav- 
elling preacher  of  Islam.  And  sitting  in  front, 
looking  up  at  him  with  eagerness,  reverence,  as- 
sent on  every  face,  are  a  score  of  native  boys. 
Instead  of  being  led  into  the  light,  they  are  being 
led  into  the  darkness,  with  a  flicker  of  a  will-o'- 
the-wisp  of  imitation  truth  to  lure  them  on.  In- 
stead of  bread  they  are  being  given  a  stone — a 
scorpion,  rather,  for  bitter  poison  lies  in  the  mes- 
sage of  their  teacher,  poison  against  all  that  we 
hold  most  dear.  The  mystery  of  the  Holy  In- 
carnation, and  the  story  of  the  Precious  Death  of 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     229 

the  Son  of  God,  are  put  before  them  only  as 
heresies  to  be  abjured  and  trampled  on. 

^^And  it  is  no  fancy  picture;  it  is  a  statement 
of  what  is  going  on  throughout  the  Moslem  coun- 
tries. In  the  one  land  of  Algeria  there  are  well 
over  half  a  million  boys  between  the  ages  of  five 
and  fourteen — all  shepherdless,  all  starving  in 
soul,  but  for  the  inappreciable  number  in  touch 
with  the  mission  stations;  and  this  is  only  one 
country  ^s  tally. '* 

The  whole  world  of  Moslem  childhood  is  grow- 
ing up  into  manhood  or  womanhood  under  the 
shadow  of  this  religion,  or  passing  into  the 
shadow  of  the  grave.  On  the  death  of  a  Moslem 
child  the  same  customs  are  observed  throughout 
the  whole  world  of  Islam,  in  as  far  as  they  are 
based  on  that  section  of  the  Traditions  which  deal 
with  the  burial  of  the  dead.  When  the  angel  of 
death  has  taken  the  soul  of  a  child,  tradition  tells 
us  that  the  assistants  of  the  angel  wrap  it  in  a 
shroud,  with  perfume  like  the  smell  of  musk. 
They  carry  it  to  God,  Who  says :  ^*  Write  the  name 
of  my  servant,  Such  an  one,  the  son  of  Such  an 
one,  and  return  him  to  the  earth  to  his  body, 
which  is  buried;  because  I  created  him  from  the 
dust  and  will  bring  him  forth  again."  Then  the 
soul  is  returned  into  the  body.  In  the  case  of 
adults,  who  are  responsible  for  their  conduct,  the 
two  angels  of  the  tomb  question  the  dead.    Chil- 


^0     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

dren  who  die  before  they  reach  the  age  of  puberty 
are  not  subject  to  this  examination.  Neverthe- 
less, the  fear  of  these  angels  of  the  tomb  must 
be  real  in  the  mind  of  any  thinking  child.  When 
a  person  is  on  the  point  of  death  it  is  a  custom 
to  pour  sugar  and  water  down  his  throat,  or  a 
little  Zemzem  water  from  Mecca.  This  is  to  facili- 
tate the  exit  of  the  vital  spark.  The  sooner  the 
funeral  rites  are  performed  the  better;  as  the 
Prophet  said,  *^The  sooner  a  man  is  buried,  the 
sooner  will  he  reach  heaven." 

In  all  Moslem  countries  the  washing  of  the  dead 
is  considered  a  religious  rite.  Generally  it  is  ob- 
served as  follows,  women  being  employed  in  the 
case  of  girls  and  men  for  boys:  The  body  is 
stripped  and  laid  on  its  back  in  the  proper  posi- 
tion toward  Mecca;  then  water  is  poured  over 
it  five  times,  and  the  body  is  scrubbed  with  soapi 
and  afterwards  with  camphor  water.  The  method 
used  resembles  the  ablutions  of  prayer  for  the 
living.  Every  time  a  pot  of  water  is  poured  out 
the  creed  is  repeated.  The  body  is  then  covered 
with  a  simple  shroud  of  new  white  cloth. 

In  Egypt,  Turkey,  and  the  Near  East  generally, 
the  male  relations  and  friends  precede  the  corpse, 
while  the  female  mourners  follow  behind,  usually 
walking,  although  sometimes  riding.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  no  one  should  precede  the  corpse, 
as  the  angels  go  before.    It  is  considered  a  very 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     231 

meritorious  act  to  help  carry  the  bier.  Coffins 
are  not  used,  but  a  canopy  covered  with  cloth  is 
over  the  bier.  All  those  who  dwell  in  Moslem 
lands  have  seen  these  frequent  funeral  proces- 
sions sweep  swiftly  through  the  streets,  the  men 
who  follow  the  bier,  or  in  some  cases  precede  it, 
chanting  slowly  and  solemnly  the  creed:  **La- 
ilaha-illa-  *llah — Muhammadu-Rasul- Allah. ' '  Like 
this: 


i 


-gr 


^         g> 


SL 


IE 


-3L 


or  more  rapidly 


jii7njrii7njB 


mcL 


The  funeral  service  is  not  recited  in  the  grave- 
yard, as  that  place  is  considered  legally  impure, 
but  in  a  mosque  or  some  other  place  near  the 
graveyard.  The  father  of  the  child  or  the  Lnam 
repeats  the  service,  which  in  India  is  as  follows : 
*^Some  one  present  calls  out:  ^Here  begin  the 
prayers  for  the  dead.'  Then  those  present  ar- 
range themselves  in  three,  five,  or  seven  rows  op- 
posite the  corpse,  with  their  faces  towards  Mecca. 
The  Imam  stands  in  front  of  the  ranks  opposite 
the  head  of  the  corpse  if  it  be  that  of  a  male,  or 


2S2    CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  waist  if  it  be  that  of  a  female.    The  whole 

company  having  taken  up  the  Qiyam,  or  standing 

position,  the  Imam  recites  the  Niyah:  *I  purpose 

to  perform  prayers  to  God  for  this  dead  person, 

consisting  of  four  Takbirs/     Then  placing  his 

hands  to  the  lobes  of  his  ears,  he  says  the  first 

TaTchir: 

''  'God  is  great!' 

*  *  Then  folding  his  hands,  the  right  hand  placed 
upon  the  left,  below  the  navel,  he  recites  the 
Suhhan: 

''  'Holiness  to  Thee,  0  God, 
And  to  Thee  he  praise, 
Great  is  Thy  Name, 
Great  is  Thy  greatness. 
Great  is  Thy  praise, 
There  is  no  deity  but  Thee,' 

**Then  follows  the  second  Takhir: 
''  'God  is  great!' 

''Then  the  Du'a:  *0  God,  have  mercy  on  Mo- 
hammed and  upon  his  descendants,  as  Thou  didst 
bestow  mercy,  and  peace  and  blessing  and  com- 
passion and  great  kindness  upon  Abraham  and 
upon  his  descendants. 

"  'Thou  art  praised,  and  Thou  art  great.' 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD    233 

**  ^0  God,  bless  Mohammed  and  his  descendants, 
as  Thou  didst  bless  and  didst  have  compassion 
and  great  kindness  upon  Abraham  and  upon  his 
descendants/ 

**Then  follows  the  third  Takhir: 

'' 'God  is  great r 

After  which  the  following  prayer  (Du'a)  is  re- 
cited : 

**  *0  God,  forgive  our  living  and  our  dead  and 
those  of  us  who  are  present,  and  those  who  are 
absent,  and  our  children,  and  our  full-grown  per- 
sons, our  men  and  our  women.  O  God,  those 
whom  Thou  dost  keep  alive  amongst  us,  keep 
alive  in  Islam,  and  those  whom  Thou  causest  to 
die,  let  them  die  in  the  Faith.  * 

**The  fourth  Takbir  follows: 

'''God  is  great!' 

**  Turning  the  head  round  to  the  right,  he  says : 

"  'Peace  and  mercy  he  to  Thee,' 

*  *  Turning  the  head  round  to  the  left,  he  says : 

"  'Peace  and  mercy  he  to  Thee,'  " 

With  slight  variations  this  same  order  is  ob- 
served in'  other  Moslem  lands.  Among  the 
nomads,  the  funerals  resemble  those  of  the  town, 


234.     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

only  they  are  more  simple.  The  body,  after  ablu- 
tion, is  shrouded  in  any  rags  that  are  procura- 
ble. A  hole  is  dug  in  the  sand  and  dried  weeds 
or  stones  are  disposed  over  the  body  in  the  shallow 
grave  to  keep  out  jackals  and  help  denote  the 
spot.  Doughty  tells  how  **some  of  the  Bedouins 
scrape  out  painfully,  with  a  stick  or  their  own 
hands  in  the  hard  burned  soil  of  the  desert,  a  shal- 
low grave.  The  feet  of  the  dead  are  laid  toward 
Mecca,  and  over  the  pitiful  form  of  earth  there 
may  be  a  few  stones  to  assure  the  human  clay ;  yet 
I  have  seen  other  graves  in  the  desert  mined  by 
hyenas,  and  the  winding  sheets  lay  half  above 
the  ground. ' '  The  position  Doughty  gives  for  the 
body  must  be  an  oversight  by  one  who  is  gen- 
erally so  accurate.  The  proper  posture  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead  is  to  have  them  face  Mecca, 
with  the  body  at  right  angles  to  the  meridian  of 
the  kibla. 

If  one  had  the  vision  of  the  angels  and  the  ages, 
we  might  therefore  see  great  concentric  circles, 
ever  widening,  of  those  who  have  fallen  asleep, 
their  only  hope  Mohammed;  millions  upon  mil- 
lions with  their  faces  toward  Mecca,  and  more 
than  half  of  them  the  bodies  of  little  children. 
The  Moslem  mother  who  weeps  over  the  body  of 
her  first-born,  wails  as  one  who  can  never  be  com- 
forted. To  understand  what  Islam  means  one 
must  visit  the  house  of  mourning.    Only  there  do 


A  GIRL   FROM   TUNIS 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  MOSLEM  CHILD     235 

we  see  the  utter  difference  between  the  life  of  him 
whom  they  honour  as  their  prophet  and  their 
lord,  and  Him  Who  is  the  resurrection  and  the 
life  and  Who  hath  brought  life  and  immortality 
to  light  in  the  Gospel.  Miss  Watling  of  Algiers 
pictures  for  us  the  weird  dance  for  the  dead,  but 
who  can  portray  the  sorrow  which  this  hopeless 
mourning  represents. 

**  Below  me,  framed  in  the  fawn-coloured  walls, 
was  a  dull  group  of  some  twenty  women  and  girls. 
Up  and  down  the  wild  things  jerked  uncouthly 
in  time  to  their  song,  beating  and  tearing,  or  pre- 
tending to,  with  their  nails,  their  faces  and  bared 
breasts. 

**The  outermost  circle  was  fairly  calm,  almost 
smiling,  and  the  tearing  merely  a  pretence,  a  com- 
pliment, a  marking  time.  But  in  the  centre  was 
a  thing  more  beast  than  human.  It  called  itself 
woman,  but  the  wild  eyes  and  mad  smile  above 
the  half -naked  body  belied  the  name.  On,  on,  she 
jumped,  higher  and  higher  as  she  led  the  chant, 
turning  meanwhile  to  every  point  of  the  com- 
pass. .   .   . 

**For  hours  and  hours  the  mourners  continued, 
dropping  down,  exhausted,  for  a  few  seconds,  only 
to  leap  up  more  frenzied  than  ever.  The  dark 
blue  garments  waved  in  the  hot  wind,  bare  limbs 
tossed,  long  plaits  of  coarse,  ill-kempt  hair  flew 
up  and  down  at  each  bound. 


g36     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

**  First  one  relation  and  then  another  took  up 
the  cry  of  loving  diminutives : 

''  ^Oh,  my  little  brother! 
Oh,  my  little  son! 
Oh,  my  little  uncle! 
Come  all  of  you; 
Oh,  my  little  heart!'  etc., 

till  sick  and  sad  we  turned  away,  sorer  than  ever 
over  these  Christless  deaths,  and  over  the  barren 
consolation  Islam  offers  to  stricken  hearts.'' 


VII 

THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  AND 
CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 


"  To  stand  between  two  religions,  from  one  of  which  you  have  not 
as  yet  emerged,  and  another  into  which  you  have  not  yet  entered, 
is  intolerable;  and  twilight  is  pleasing  only  to  bat-like  souls." — 
ViCTOE  Hugo — "  Les  Mis6rables." 

"  European  civilization  destroys  one  religion  without  substitut- 
ing another  in  its  place.  It  requires  to  be  seen  whether  the  code  of 
Christian  morality  on  which  European  civilization  is  based,  can 
be  dissociated  from  the  teaching  of  the  Christian  religion." — 
LoBD  Cromer — "Modern  Egypt." 

"  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  take  away  a  boy's  faith,  even  if 
it  be  a  faith  in  a  mistaken  creed,  and  I  think  the  man  who  has 
argued  or  bantered  a  young  fellow  out  of  his  faith  without 
bringing  him  to  a  higher  faith,  has  incurred  a  great  responsi- 
bility."—!. L.  Pennell  in  "  The  Afghan  Frontier." 


vn 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  AND  CHRIS- 
TIAN MISSIONS 

THE  old  coat  of  arms  of  Tiflis,  that  great 
Moslem  centre  in  the  Caucasus,  is  a  staff  of 
wood  held  by  two  hands.  The  cross  is  on 
the  upper  end,  while  below  is  the  half  moon.  One 
hand  holds  the  cross  upright,  and  the  other  is 
endeavouring  to  uplift  the  half  moon.  This  coat 
of  arms,  if  it  were  reversed,  would  be  typical  of 
the  situation  in  most  Moslem  lands.  Two  forces 
are  operating  on  the  world  of  childhood  which 
has  passed  before  us  in  the  preceding  chapters. 
Both  are  disintegrating  forces,  and  at  the  same 
time  formative.  In  some  lands  they  have  been 
active  for  many  decades,  in  others  more  recently, 
and  in  some  they  have  scarcely  been  felt.  These 
two  forces  are  Western  civilization,  with  its  good 
and  evil,  and  Christian  missions. 

The  advent  of  a  railway  station,  a  flour-mill, 
or  even  a  wheeled  carriage,  has  been  a  red-letter 
day  to  the  children  of  many  Moslem  lands.  What 
must  it  have  meant  to  the  children  of  Medina 
when  for  the  first  time  they  saw  the  big  iron 


240     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

monster  puffing  on  the  rails,  bringing  a  load  of 
pilgrims  from  far-off  Damascus !  How  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  Pirate  Coast  in  Oman  gazed  with 
wonder  when  they  saw  the  first  smoke-ship  enter 
their  harbours !  Not  less  wonderful,  often  equally 
unexpected,  and  generally  less  welcome,  was  the 
coming  of  the  missionary.  The  opening  of  the 
first  hospital,  or  of  a  day  school  with  blackboards, 
pictures,  and  books,  the  music  of  an  organ,  the 
scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ  shown  by  stereopti- 
con, — all  these  have  stirred  the  dull  monotony  of 
Moslem  child  life  in  many  lands  and  among  many 
nations  in  a  way  which  only  those  can  realize 
who  have  themselves  observed  it. 

The  Moslem  world  has  been  penetrated  by 
travellers  to  its  inmost  recesses.  Mecca  and 
Medina,  as  well  as  Kerbela  and  Meshed  Ali,  have 
laid  bare  their  secrets.  ** Arabia,"  writes  Dr. 
James  Cantine,  **is  being  influenced  as  never  be- 
fore by  the  forces  of  commerce  and  trade.  The 
Twentieth  Century,  with  rail  and  steamer,  is 
piercing  and  crossing  the  last  remaining  banks 
and  bars;  and  soon  Arabia,  that  great  eddy  in 
the  stream  of  the  world's  progress,  will  find  itself 
being  carried  rapidly  along  to  the  consummation 
of  God's  purpose.  In  northeastern  Arabia  the 
most  superficial  observer  can  easily  note  the 
growth  during  the  last  few  years.  The  great 
irrigation  schemes,  inaugurated  in  the  Mesopo- 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  241 

tamian  valley,  the  linking  up  by  rail  of  the  Persian 
Gulf  with  the  Mediterranean,  the  Bosphorus,  and 
the  Black  Sea,  the  decided  increase  in  size  and 
number  of  the  ocean  steamers  making  Busrah 
their  terminus,  the  immense  oil  fields  on  its  bor- 
der already  being  exploited  by  modern  methods 
and  capital — all  these  were  but  nebulous  hopes  a 
decade  ago,  and  make  us  wonder  what  is  in  store 
for  the  great  regions  still  unexplored. 

'*  Socially  the  forces  at  work  are  those  acting 
in  all  the  world.  We  have  here  only  space  to  note 
the  growing  tendency  to  approve  and,  without 
doubt,  soon  to  use  customs  of  distinctively  Chris- 
tian origin.  Monogamy,  equality  of  the  sexes, 
schools  for  girls,  and  various  so-called  hand- 
maids of  Christianity,  are  beginning  to  be  pressed 
into  the  service  of  Islam.  Many  of  us  think  that 
it  will  result  in  a  house  divided  against  itself,  but 
time  only  will  tell." 

Since  these  lines  were  written  Great  Britain 
has  occupied  Busrah,  and  is  about  to  make  the 
Euphrates-Tigris  valley  another  Egypt  under 
some  new  Lord  Cromer. 

Tripoli  has  seen  more  changes  in  the  last  five 
years  than  in  the  previous  two  hundred  years. 
Whether  we  consider  Italy's  action  brigandage 
on  a  national  scale  or  legitimate  colonial  expan- 
sion, the  fact  remains  that  they  have  already 
established   good   communications,    roads,    tele- 


242     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

graphs,  railways,  motor  services;  they  are  pre- 
paring the  people  for  taking  a  share  in  their  own 
development  by  instituting  good  technical  col- 
leges; they  have  improved  the  water  supply  and 
the  drainage,  and  by  these  means  and  the  good 
hospitals  and  medical  service  which  they  have  in- 
troduced, they  have  already  done  much  towards 
stamping  out,  or,  at  any  rate,  reducing  certain 
diseases  which  have  devastated  the  Arabs. 

The  editor  of  the  Mussalman,  Calcutta,  in 
speaking  of  the  entrance  of  Russia  and  Great  Brit- 
ain into  Persia,  said  that  the  loss  of  Persia  would 
be  a  great  calamity  to  the  Moslem  world.  **  Af- 
ghanistan would  be  exposed  to  foreign  invasion, 
Arabia  and  the  regions  west  of  Persia  would  be 
similarly  exposed;  thus  the  one  loss  may  be  the 
forerunner  of  many  other  great  losses  and  the 
cause  of  utter  annihilation  of  the  Islamic  civiliza- 
tion.'*  (1912.)  His  word  is  finding  fulfilment 
even  as  we  write  these  lines,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  after  the  great  European  war,  any  Mos- 
lem land  will  retain  nominal  independence. 

In  addition  to  this  political  upheaval  and  par- 
allel with  it,  a  remarkable  modernist  movement 
has  arisen  and  is  gaining  strength  in  Moham- 
medan lands  all  the  way  from  Morocco  to  China. 
The  introduction  of  Western  customs,  the  multi- 
plication of  machinery  and  other  devices  of  West- 
ern civilization,  the  increase  of  educational  op- 


A    YOUNG    EDUCATED    JAVANESE 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST 

portunity,  and  especially  the  rise  and  enormous 
expansion  of  the  Moslem  press,  have  utterly 
changed  many  old  standards  and  developed  new 
social  and  intellectual  ideals.  In  some  parts  of 
the  Moslem  world  the  children  are  born  into  a 
new  environment  in  which  the  best  and  the  worst 
of  our  Western  civilization  are  in  conflict  with 
the  best  and  the  worst  of  Moslem  civilization. 
European  fashions  in  dress  are  being  copied,  and 
sometimes  the  results  are  unexpected.  Miss 
Stocking  writes  from  Persia,  for  example : 

**It  is  to  be  regretted  that  many  girls  are 
abandoning  the  dainty  white  head-kerchief,  so  pic- 
turesque and  universally  becoming.  But  without 
this  kerchief  it  is  necessary  to  dress  the  hair  more 
neatly,  and  for  this  reason  many  girls  are  wear- 
ing their  hair  in  one  braid  instead  of  in  nine  or 
eleven  tiny  braids.  Hair  worn  in  one  braid  can 
be  combed  every  day,  whereas  once  or  twice  a 
month  was  considered  sufficient  for  the  old 
style." 

Moslem  boys  in  Turkey,  Algeria,  and  Java  are 
gradually  abandoning  their  national  dress  and 
adopting  that  of  Europeans.  Our  photograph  of 
the  young  hopeful  from  Batavia,  with  his  semi- 
European  garb  and  the  daily  paper  by  his  side, 
is  an  illustration  in  point.  The  question  of  cere- 
monial washing  before  prayer  is  greatly  compli- 
cated when  children  and  grown-ups  use  Western 


244     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

footgear,  and  when  watches  and  almanacs  keep 
Western  time,  even  children  begin  to  ask  what  is 
the  significance  of  a.d.  1915. 

The  Arabic  Koran  is  being  translated  by  Mos- 
lems themselves  into  other  tongues.  The  Mo- 
hammedans of  India,  for  example,  have  recently 
published  an  English  translation  for  the  use  of 
schools  (Allahabad,  1911).  Translations  have 
also  been  made  into  Urdu,  Turkish,  Javanese,  and 
by  missionaries,  into  Bengali.  Newspapers  pub- 
lished at  the  great  centres,  such  as  Calcutta,  Bom- 
bay, Constantinople,  and  Cairo,  carry  the  news 
of  the  day  into  every  corner  of  the  world.  More 
than  two  hundred  papers  and  magazines  were  pub- 
lished in  Persia  after  the  proclamation  of  the 
constitution.  Cairo  has  more  daily  newspapers 
than  either  London  or  New  York,  but  of  course 
many  of  them  have  a  very  limited  circula- 
tion. 

The  desire  for  education  has  become  universal 
among  all  the  better-class  Mohammedans.  Egypt 
as  a  nation  is  struggling  with  might  and  main  to 
get  out  of  the  depths  of  illiteracy.  Under  the 
inspiration  of  Great  Britain,  and  following  the 
leadership  of  American  mission  schools,  educa- 
tion is  making  rapid  progress,  as  the  following 
table  shows.  The  Jcuttah  referred  to  is  the  pri- 
mary Moslem  school.  We  see  from  the  statistics 
given  that  the  number  of  boys  and  girls  attending 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  245 

government  schools  in  Egypt  increased  over  four 
hundred  per  cent  in  twenty-one  years. 

1890         1911 

In  Government  kuttabs . 1,961  13,169 

In  institutions  for  training  teach- 
ers for  kuttabs 2,713 

In  higher  primary  schools 2,749  5,761 

In  technical  schools  and  colleges.  393  1,644 

In  secondary  schools 734  2,160 

In  professional  colleges 382  1,351 

Studying  abroad  (Egyptian  Edu- 
cation Mission) 56 

6,219      26,854 

What  Dr.  Pennell  wrote  in  regard  to  North 
India  is  true,  generally  speaking,  of  all  those 
countries  where  European  governments  are  estab- 
lishing a  school  system.  **  There  are  four  atti- 
tudes towards  educational  work;  that  of  the  peo- 
ple at  large,  who  desire  learning,  not  usually  for 
learning's  sake,  but  because  that  is  the  portal  of 
government  preferment  and  commercial  success; 
that  of  the  priests  and  religious-conservative  ele- 
ment, who  oppose  it  tooth  and  nail  as  subversive 
of  the  old  religious  ideas  and  priestly  power ;  that 
of  the  missionary,  who  finds  therein  his  vantage 
ground  for  familiarizing  the  intelligent  and  in- 
fluential section  of  the  people  with  the  doctrines 
and  ideals  of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  that  of 


^46     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

the  Government,  which,  indifferent  alike  to  the 
motives  of  the  missionary  and  the  opposition  of 
the  mullahs,  requires  educated  young  men  for  ad- 
ministrative posts,  and  believes  that  education 
eclipses  fanaticism." 

In  Persia  and  Turkey  there  is  a  growing  inter- 
est in  the  education  of  girls,  and  women  them- 
selves are  voicing  the  plea  for  higher  education. 
In  an  article  published  in  the  Turkish  daily  Ikdam 
we  read:  **What  has  our  government  done  for  the 
training  of  our  girls,  I  wonder?  Let  me  call  at- 
tention to  the  following  figures,  which  I  have 
taken  from  the  statistics  published  by  the  Min- 
istry of  Public  Instruction  concerning  all  the  of- 
ficial and  unofficial  schools  in  our  country.  For 
girls  there  is  1  normal  training  school;  over 
against  this  there  are  32  normal  training  schools 
for  boys.  There  is  1  high  school  for  girls ;  while 
for  boys  there  are  12  lyceums,  6  Stamboul  high 
schools,  9  seven-year  high  boarding  schools,  2 
seven-year  high  schools  for  day  pupils,  9  five-year 
high  boarding  schools,  and  72  five-year  high 
day  schools;  in  other  words,  1  high  school  for 
girls  as  against  110  for  boys.  Coming  to  the 
grammar  schools,  there  are  45  for  girls  and  148 
for  boys;  of  primary  schools  there  are  216  for 
girls  alone,  2,561  for  boys  alone,  and  2,388  mixed. 
Do  not  these  figures  show  that  woman  is  regarded 
as  a  very  secondary,  negligible,  and  useless  class 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  247 

of  humanity,  for  whom  knowledge  is  not  very- 
preferable  to  ignorance  r' 

At  one  time  the  Dutch  government  in  Java  im- 
peded the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  to  enlighten 
and  develop  the  native  mind  by  education,  but 
now  Holland  is  endeavouring  to  atone  for  the 
past.  Normal  training  schools  have  been  opened, 
and  so  eager  are  the  Javanese  for  education  that, 
Mr.  Cabaton  tells  us,  *4n  school,  thanks  to  his 
precocity,  the  native  Javanese  often  outstrips  Eu- 
ropean children  of  his  own  age,  and  in  many  cases 
is  able  to  maintain  this  superiority  for  years." 

In  1910  Dutch  India  had  6  normal  schools,  with 
42  teachers  and  538  pupils.  The  elementary 
schools  for  natives  were,  for  Java  and  Madura, 
in  1910,  613  government  schools  with  126,550  pu- 
pils, and  549  private  schools  with  58,668  pupils. 
In  the  outposts  in  1909,  395  government  schools 
with  64,231  pupils,  and  1,436  private  schools  with 
83,871  pupils.  Besides,  there  were  7  schools  for 
sons  of  native  chiefs  with  541  pupils,  and  3 
trades-schools  with  277  pupils.  In  1910  the  gov- 
ernment spent  5,393,417  guilders  for  the  educa- 
tion of  natives. 

Moslem  educational  conferences  are  the  order 
of  the  day  in  India,  and  the  problem  of  Moslem 
childhood,  in  its  ignorance  and  illiteracy,  is  being 
grappled  with  by  some  of  the  educated  leaders 
themselves.    At  such  a  conference,  held  in  Delhi 


^48     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

in  1911,  Her  Highness  the  Begum  of  Bhopal  made 
a  strong  plea  for  the  education  of  Moslem  girls, 
saying:  **It  is  evident  that  those  who  are  girls 
to-day  will  be  mothers  of  future  generations,  and 
it  is  they  who  will  have  to  train  the  whole  com- 
munity. How  sad  is,  therefore,  the  fact  that  their 
education  is  in  such  a  backward  condition.  On 
behalf  of  my  sex  I  fully  acknowledge  the  efforts 
which  have  so  far  been  made  by  you  gentlemen 
in  promoting  the  cause  of  female  education,  but 
at  the  same  time  I  must  say  that  those  whom  you 
wish  to  advance  are  very  weak  and  that  the  goal 
is  still  far  distant,  and  the  need  of  help  and  ear- 
nest endeavours  is  most  urgent.  The  history  of 
our  community,  as  well  as  daily  experience,  fully 
proves  that  it  is  the  neglect  and  want  of  due 
attention  of  men  which  are  responsible  for  the 
ignorance  of  women,  which  has  done  much  more 
harm  to  men  than  to  women.''  One  of  the  lead- 
ers in  the  Persian  Parliament  said  to  Dr.  Es- 
selstyn:  **  There  is  nothing  more  important  for 
the  future  welfare  of  Persia  than  the  education 
of  our  girls.  The  hope  of  our  country  is  their- 
education,  and  we  shall  never  have  statesmen  till 
the  mothers  are  educated.''  In  Constantinople 
Moslem  womanhood  now  has  its  illustrated  jour- 
nal called  the  Women's  World  and  published 
weekly.  Recently  this  paper  contained  the  fol- 
lowing plea  for  liberty  and  higher  ideals ; 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  249 

**  Everybody  knows  how  very  far  from  any 
worthy  ideal  of  what  family  life  ought  to  be  our 
social  life  has  been.  The  young  bride  ^s  fond 
hopes,  her  bright  dreams  of  what  her  future  is  to 
be,  how  soon  and  how  rudely  have  they  often  been 
shattered.  She  has  soon  discovered  how  hopeless 
was  her  slavery,  or,  if  that  is  better,  that  she  was 
but  her  husband's  toy,  to  be  thrown  aside  as  soon 
as  the  toy  no  longer  pleases.  .  .  .  The  fault  is  not 
in  our  stars  but  in  ourselves,  if  we  fail  of  attain- 
ing true  happiness.  Our  men  are  seeing  more 
clearly  to-day  than  ever  before  that  the  welfare 
and  success  of  our  people  in  the  coming  years 
depend  very  greatly  upon  us,  the  mothers  and  the 
daughters  of  our  race.'' 

In  their  new  ideals  of  education  these  Moslem 
leaders  who  have  received  a  Western  training 
themselves  are  sometimes  honest  enough  to  admit 
that  the  pioneers  of  modern  education  throughout 
the  whole  Moslem  world  have  been,  not  the  gov- 
ernments, but  the  missionaries.  At  the  All  India 
Moslem  Educational  Conference,  held  at  Lucknow 
in  1912,  Major  Bilgrami  made  a  remarkable  ad- 
dress, at  the  conclusion  of  which  he  said:  '*I  have 
always  appreciated  the  labours  of  missionaries 
in  the  line  of  education  in  India;  from  the  days 
of  Carey  and  Marshman  they  have  taken  the  lead 
in  education  and  in  elevating  the  people.  And 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  their  education  has  not  been 


250     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

divorced  from  moral  teaching.  The  quality  of 
their  teaching  has  been  of  a  very  high  order  and 
foremost  throughout  the  world.  And  in  this 
matter  I  would  say  that  the  Americans  have  led 
the  way.  One  of  the  finest  institutions  for  educa- 
tion in  the  world  is  the  Syrian  Protestant  College 
at  Beirut. ' ' 

In  all  these  efforts,  however,  for  primary  and 
higher  education  we  must  not  forget  that  educa- 
tion without  moral  training  is  not  an  unmixed 
blessing,  and  that  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
Christian  morals  on  which,  as  Lord  Cromer  re- 
minds us,  European  civilization  is  based,  can  be 
dissociated  from  the  teaching  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ.  The  Moslem  schoolboy  must  not 
only  be  taught  his  alphabet,  but  he  must  learn 
to  play  games  instead  of  sitting  idle,  and  to  play 
without  cheating,  without  jealousy,  or  bad  feel- 
ing. He  must  learn  the  dignity  of  labour  and  the 
sin  of  idleness.  The  result  of  government  educa- 
tion is  the  secularization  of  life,  and  as  the  Mos- 
lem world  has  always  been  religious  to  the  core, 
learning  and  religion  have  gone  hand  in  hand.  To 
divorce  them  will  destroy  all  moral  stability.  The 
following  incident  related  of  the  Bannu  Mission 
School  (India)  shows  that  education  can  be  given 
without  destroying  faith:  *^Once,  at  a  cricket- 
match  with  a  rival  school,  when  the  issue  of  the 
game  was  hanging  in  the  balance,  and  depended 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  251 

on  the  last  man,  who  had  just  gone  in,  making 
four  runs,  a  Muhammadan  Afghan,  one  of  the 
eleven,  retired  to  a  corner  of  the  field  and  re- 
peated the  Lord^s  Prayer,  closing  with  a  petition 
for  the  victory  of  the  school,  and  returned  to  find 
the  winning  run  just  made!*' 

In  nearly  every  part  of  the  Moslem  world,  es- 
pecially in  those  lands  which  have  been  consid- 
ered the  most  remote  or  fanatic.  Christian  mis- 
sionaries have  been  the  pioneers  of  primary  edu- 
cation, and  have  begun  this  work  under  terrific 
opposition  on  the  part  of  Moslem  leaders  and  the 
age-long  prejudice  of  the  people  against  Chris- 
tianity and  its  messengers.  It  is  evident  from  all 
the  reports  which  we  have  received  that  even 
where  missionary  organizations  exist  and  are 
carrying  on  work  in  Moslem  lands,  the  Moslem 
population  (and  this  includes  the  children)  are 
difficult  of  access.  In  Tunisia,  we  are  told,  Mos- 
lem children  are  hardly  accessible  at  all,  the  par- 
ents being  very  careful  to  keep  them  away  from 
the  Christian  missionary,  and  that  French  law 
forbids  interference  with  the  Moslem  religion. 
From  Turkey  and  Arabia  the  missionaries  write 
that  there  is  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  Mos- 
lem children  to  attend  Christian  schools,  and  that 
the  children  are  prevented  from  associating  with 
mission  workers. 

The  intolerant  spirit  of  Islam  is  a  great  barrier 


£52     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

between  the  Moslem  child  and  those  who  desire 
to  help  him.  Kindness  is  frequently  interpreted 
as  arising  from  fear,  and  Moslem  children,  as 
well  as  their  parents,  are  so  apt  to  consider  Chris- 
tians their  inferiors  in  every  way.  This  inaccessi- 
bility seems  to  apply  especially  to  the  girls.  From 
India,  North  Africa,  and  Arabia  we  have  reports 
that  are  discouraging  in  their  unanimity.  **  Girls 
seem  to  be  practically  inaccessible  in  this  dis- 
trict.'' Among  the  upper  classes  they  are  shut 
in,  and  among  both  rich  and  poor  early  marriage 
is  a  bar  to  religious  as  well  as  to  secular  educa- 
tion. In  Malaysia  and  the  Malay  peninsula,  as 
well  as  in  India  and  Egypt,  children  are  more  ac- 
cessible, and  we  might  sum  up  these  apparently 
conflicting  testimonies  in  the  statement  of  Dr. 
Young  of  Aden,  that  **  Moslem  children  are  com- 
pletely accessible  for  ordinary  intercourse,  but 
whenever  one  begins  to  teach  Christianity,  a  bar- 
rier is  raised  by  parents  or  teachers  and  the  child 
is  removed."  Nevertheless  there  are  indications 
everywhere  that  this  spirit  of  opposition  and 
fanaticism  is  waning,  and  the  work  already  ac- 
complished for  Moslem  childhood  by  Christian 
missions  measures  large,  both  as  to  quantity  and 
quality,  in  every  way.  When  Kipling  wrote  his 
famous  lines  regarding  the  founding  of  Gordon 
College  at  Khartoum, 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  253 

They  terribly  carpet  the  earth   with  dead,   and  before   their 

cannon  cool 
They  walk  unarmed  by  twos  and  threes  to  call  the  living  to 

school." 


he  did  not  consider  it  worth  while,  as  some  one 
remarked,  to  say  that  Kitchener's  army  (which 
did  the  ** carpeting'')  marched  past  more  than  a 
hundred  mission  schools  from  Alexandria  south 
to  the  junction  of  the  Blue  and  White  Nile.  Mis- 
sionaries have  never  strewn  Egypt  with  the  dead, 
but  they  have  called  more  children  to  school  than 
Lord  Cromer  did  in  his  period  of  administration. 
In  Persia  higher  education  dates  from  the  ar- 
rival of  the  American  Presbyterian  missionaries, 
when  Urumia  College  was  started  in  a  cellar  in 
1836,  and  Fiske  Seminary  there  is  still  the  leading 
school  for  girls  in  the  whole  of  Persia.  The 
American  School  for  Boys,  Teheran,  Eobert  Col- 
lege, the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  Central  Tur- 
key College  at  Aintab,  Euphrates  College  at 
Harpoot,  Anatolia  College  at  Marsovan,  St. 
Paul's  Institute  at  Tarsus,  the  International  Col- 
lege at  Smyrna,  and  Assiut  College  in  Egypt,  have 
trained  the  leaders  of  the  Nearer  East.  What 
Moslem  childhood  owes  already,  directly  and  in- 
directly, to  these  institutions  can  never  be  meas- 
ured by  statistics,  and  can  only  be  estimated  in 
terms  of  dynamics.  In  the  Boys'  School  in  Urumia 
in  1908,  of  77  names  enrolled,  63  were  Moslems. 


254     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

In  an  enrollment  of  236  at  Teheran,  130  were  Mos- 
lems, and  the  proportion  as  well  as  the  numbers 
have  increased.  One  father  who  brought  his 
black-eyed  little  lad  in  long  coat  and  high  hat  to 
place  in  charge  of  the  missionary  at  the  school 
said,  **He  is  yours.  I  give  you  his  skin  and  flesh 
and  retain  his  bones  for  myself.*'  From  two 
seminaries  for  girls,  one  at  Beirut  and  the  other 
at  Sidon,  350  young  women  have  already  gone  out 
to  teach  childhood  in  the  schools  of  Syria,  Pales- 
tine, and  Egypt.  Dr.  James  L.  Barton  in  his  book 
on  Educational  Missions  mentions  no  less  than 
thirty-six  institutions  of  higher  learning  in  Mos- 
lem lands.  Each  of  them  is  exerting  an  uplifting 
influence  upon  an  ever-widening  area  of  Moslem 
childhood,  and  all  of  them  were  founded  by  mis- 
sionaries. 

It  is  an  old  saying  that  the  hope  of  the  future 
is  in  the  children  of  today.  This  truth  cannot  be 
over-emphasized  when  we  think  of  the  possibil- 
ities, as  well  as  of  what  has  already  been  accom- 
plished by  Christian  missions.  To-day  we  see 
girls  and  boys  seated  at  their  desks  laboriously 
making  long  crooked  rows  of  letters,  but  in  a  few 
years  these  same  children  will  have  left  the  school 
with  new  ideas  indelibly  stamped  upon  their 
minds,  and  new  ideals  upon  their  hearts.  **In  a 
country,"  writes  Mrs.  John  Van  Ess  of  Arabia, 
**  where  the  few  schools  which  are  to  be  found 


girls'  mission  school,  mogador,  morocco 


SCHOOL  FOR  MOSLEM  GIRLS 

Conducted  by  the  Swedish  missionaries  at  Port  Said.     125  Moslem 

girls  enrolled. 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  255 

are  a  travesty  on  the  word  education,  even  the 
most  unpretentious  of  American  schools  seem  to 
the  native  by  contrast  a  marvel  of  efficiency, 
equipment,  and  astounding  results.''  Even 
greater  is  the  contrast  when  we  consider  the 
schools  for  handicraft  and  technical  training, 
where  Moslem  children  are  taught  domestic  sci- 
ence, carpet-weaving,  carpentry,  and  other  useful 
branches.  How  utterly  different  is  the  environ- 
ment and  the  opportunity  for  the  Moslem  girls 
who  are  weaving  carpets  under  missionary  direc- 
tion in  Turkey,  as  we  see  them  in  our  picture,  from 
that  of  the  underfed,  ill-housed,  ignorant  children 
of  Kirman  of  whom  we  read  in  Chapter  III. 
The  bright  faces  of  the  girls  in  the  mission  school 
at  Mogador,  Morocco,  are  no  less  an  evidence  of 
the  new  era  for  Moslem  womanhood  than  are  the 
specimens  of  their  work  in  drawing  and  modelling 
which  the  picture  puts  before  us. 

The  uplift  of  Moslem  childhood  seems  to  be 
possible  everywhere,  and  prayer  and  pains  accom- 
plish marvels.  From  among  the  lowest  classes  in 
Port  Said  the  Swedish  Mission,  as  a  result  of 
three  years'  effort,  has  enrolled  125  Moslem 
girls,  and  the  reward  of  this  work  of  faith  and 
labour  of  love  and  patience  of  hope  is  evident  at 
a  glance,  in  the  faces  of  these  transformed  and 
happy  children.  These  great  things,  however,  are 
greatly  won,  and  not  found  by  chance  nor  wafted 


256  CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

on  the  breath  of  summer  dream.  Mr.  H.  P.  El- 
son,  who  founded  the  Raymund  Lull  Home  for 
Moslem  boys  at  Tangier,  Morocco,  writes : 

**I  could  not  begin  to  tell  you  of  all  the  diffi- 
culties and  obstacles  in  the  way  of  missionaries 
working  among  children  here  in  past  years,  nor 
of  the  heartaches,  disappointments,  and  discour- 
agements which  have  been  their  portion.  But  I 
can  testify  that  God  is  faithful,  and  we  thank  Him 
for  all,  even  the  heartaches  and  difficulties,  for 
they  have  taught  us  to  realize  how  useless  are  all 
human  agencies  in  doing  service  for  God  and  how 
potent  and  availing  are  the  agencies  of  prayer 
and  faith  in  Christ.  *He  shall  prevail,'  and  Mo- 
hammedan darkness  must  give  way  before 
Him. 

^*For  nine  years  we  have  been  working  among 
children  and  in  the  face  of  great  opposition. 
What  has  been  accomplished  has  been  through 
prayer;  inch  by  inch  the  ground  has  been  taken. 
We  began  by  taking  one  boy,  and  now  have 
twenty-seven  in  our  home.  The  number  varies 
between  twenty-five  and  thirty-five.  Some  of  our 
boys  are  now  in  good  situations  and  people  are 
beginning  to  see  the  benefit  of  the  work.  Our 
chief  aim  is  to  bring  them  to  Christ." 

A  lad  from  the  Riff  Country  who  was  in  this 
Home  to  learn  the  printing  trade  was  too  restless 
to  remain  long.     He  joined  the  French  army 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  257 

eventually  and  was  sent  to  the  front.  Afterwards 
he  wrote  from  the  military  hospital:  ^*I  have  not 
forgotten  what  I  learned;  only  the  Lord  Jesus 
can  cleanse  my  heart  from  sin,  I  now  believe  in 
Him/' 

Education  apart  from  religion  is  not  sufficient 
to  save  the  child.  The  only  hope  for  the  non- 
Christian  childhood  of  the  world,  therefore,  is  to 
bring  Christ  to  them  and  so  lead  them  to  Christ. 
Even  more  than  the  Moslem  woman  and  her 
home,  the  little  child  needs  the  friendship  of  Jesus 
our  Lord  and  the  inspiration  of  His  pure  and  holy 
life.  Contact  with  this  Life  produces  new  life. 
Every  mission  station  in  the  world  of  Islam  can 
offer  evidence  of  the  transforming  and  transfig- 
uring power  of  the  Gospel.  It  has  proved  trium- 
phant over  the  stern  laws  of  heredity,  and  is  able 
to  produce  a  new  environment  and  change  char- 
acter. When  Moslem  children  receive  Him,  He 
gives  them  the  right  to  become  the  children  of 
God.  The  most  unpromising  material  is  not  hope- 
less. Some  African  boys,  carried  in  an  Arab  slave 
dhow  to  Muscat,  who  received  unexpected  liberty 
from  the  British  Government  and  unstinted  love 
from  my  brother  afford  a  good  example.  Dr. 
Robert  E.  Speer  will  tell  the  story  for  us. 

**Six  years  ago  (1897)  I  stopped  from  a  British 
India  steamer  at  Muscat  to  visit  Peter  Zwemer, 
who  was  working  there  alone,  the  signs  of  fever 


S58     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

plain  upon  his  face  so  that  any  man  might  read, 
but  abiding  still  by  his  work.  He  took  us  up  to 
the  house  where  he  was  living,  and  into  the  room 
where  he  said  his  family  would  be  found.  There, 
sitting  on  little  benches  around  the  room,  were 
eighteen  little  black  boys.  They  had  been  rescued 
from  a  slave  ship  that  had  been  coming  up  the 
eastern  coast  of  Arabia  with  these  little  fellows 
and  other  slaves  to  be  sold  on  the  date  planta- 
tions along  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  rivers. 
The  British  consul  had  gone  out  and  seized  them 
from  the  slavers,  and  had  delivered  them  to  Mr. 
Zwemer  to  keep  until  they  were  eighteen  years  of 
age,  when  they  were  to  be  given  their  manumis- 
sion papers.  They  sat  in  the  plain  room,  dressed 
in  their  brown  khaki  garments  with  their  little 
red  fezes  on  their  heads,  just  as  happy  as  the 
children  of  a  king.  *They  were  not  so,'  said  Mr. 
Zwemer,  *when  I  got  them.  The  eighteen  of  them 
huddled  together  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  just 
like  rabbits,  and  every  time  I  came  close  they 
huddled  nearer  together.  They  distrusted  every 
one.  For  months  they  had  known  nothing  but 
abuse  ar  "*  cruelty,  and  had  been  shut  down  in  the 
hold  of  the  slave  ship  in  order  that  they  might 
not  betray  their  presence.'  I  saw  on  the  cheek 
of  each  child  a  little  mark  about  the  size  of  a 
silver  half-dollar  on  the  cheekbone,  and  I  asked 
Mr.  Zwemer  what  that  curious  scar  was.    'Why,' 


YOUNG  MOSLEM  GIRL  FROM  ABYSSINIA 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  259 

said  he,  *that  is  the  brand  of  the  slaver's  iron. 
Every  one  of  these  little  boys  was  burned  that 
way.'  I  understood  something,  standing  in  the 
presence  of  those  eighteen  little  black  boys  with 
the  brand  of  the  slaver's  iron  on  their  cheeks,  of 
what  it  was  that  nerved  Wilberf  orce  and  Clarkson 
to  endure  ignominy  and  shame  and  social  ostra- 
cism until  at  last  they  had  stricken  the  shackles 
from  the  wrists  of  the  last  British  slave  and  rein- 
stated him  in  his  rights  as  a  man." 

"What  was  done  at  Muscat  on  a  small  scale  has 
been  done  over  and  over  again  in  West  and  East 
Africa  and  in  India  on  behalf  of  Moslem  slave 
children  in  much  larger  numbers.  But  much  re- 
mains to  be  done.  Slavery  is  not  yet  a  thing  of 
the  past  in  Africa  nor  in  West  Arabia.  The  little 
Moslem  slave  girl  from  Abyssinia  in  our  illus- 
tration has  the  very  brand  marks  on  her  face  that 
I  remember  seeing  on  the  faces  of  our  slave  boys 
at  Muscat,  and  appeals  mutely  to  the  Friend  of 
children,  and  to  those  who  are  His  friends,  for 
deliverance. 

Medical  missions  have  been  the  great  pioneer 
agency  in  all  Moslem  lands,  and  have  brought  the 
ministry  of  friendship  with  that  of  healing  simul- 
taneously into  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  babes  and  children.  There  are  today  more 
than  100  fully  equipped  mission  hospitals  in 
the  great  centres  of  Moslem  population  all  the 


260     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

way  from  West  Africa  to  Malaysia.  If  one  could 
visit  in  succession  the  children's  wards  and  talk 
with  the  little  Moslem  patients,  what  a  story  of 
suffering  relieved  would  be  revealed,  and  what  a 
new  significance  would  be  given  to  the  words  of 
Christ,  **I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  Me."  In  Con- 
stantinople, Old  Cairo,  Calcutta,  Teheran,  Damas- 
cus, Beirut,  Amritsar,  Baghdad,  Busrah,  and 
other  centres,  although  not  so  populous,  such  as 
Aden,  Algiers,  Muscat,  Quetta,  Peshawar,  and 
Yezd,  hospitals  have  been  opened  and  outdoor  dis- 
pensary relief  given  to  suffering  childhood.  At 
Yezd,  for  example.  Dr.  H.  White  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  April,  1898,  and  forthwith  opened  a  dis- 
pensary. Before  the  close  of  the  year  he  had 
registered  5,000  out-patients  and  visited  500 
homes  of  the  people.  The  story  of  medical  mis- 
sions at  Baghdad,  Bahrein,  or  Aden  in  Arabia  if 
told  in  detail  would  be  more  interesting  than  a 
romance.  Many  of  these  Arab  patients  travel  in- 
credible distances  to  obtain  treatment,  like  the 
cripple  boy  of  fourteen,  homeless  and  friendless, 
who  begged  his  way  to  Baghdad,  limping  200 
miles  with  the  aid  of  a  crutch.^ 

Patients  come  from  the  distant  interior  prov- 
inces to  the  coast  towns  because  they  know  that 
here  kindness  awaits  them  and  the  loving  skill  of 
Christian  physicians.     The  few  who  come,  how- 

*«The  Persia  and  Turkish  Missions,"  1909,  p.  42.     (C.M.S.) 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  261 

ever,  only  emphasize  the  need  of  the  many  chil- 
dren whose  suffering  is  unrelieved. 

The  preparation  of  Christian  literature,  that  is, 
literature  suited  to  the  mind  of  a  child,  must  also 
be  noted  as  perhaps  the  greatest  contribution  of 
missions  in  uplifting  and  emancipating  those  who 
are  able  to  read.  The  twenty  main  Moslem  lan- 
guages have  the  Bible  translated  into  them  in 
whole  or  in  part.  This  includes  such  important 
versions  as  the  Arabic,  Persian,  and  Turkish ;  the 
Urdu  and  Bengali  editions  for  the  millions  in 
India ;  the  Malay  for  those  in  the  East  Indies,  and 
many  other  versions  for  the  Turkish  and  Tartar 
tribes  of  Southwest  and  Central  Asia,  as  well  as 
those  in  the  African  languages,  such  as  Hausa  and 
Swaheli.  The  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue  is  un- 
doubtedly the  greatest  literary  treasure  we  can 
put  into  the  lap  of  childhood. 

Although  ignorance  and  illiteracy  are  so  uni- 
versal in  the  Moslem  world,  we  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  the  percentage  and  the  number  of 
readers  is  increasing  every  year  by  hundreds  and 
thousands.  The  army  of  those  who  go  to  school 
wins  new  recruits  daily  in  every  Moslem  land,  be- 
cause they  themselves  are  awakening  to  the  possi- 
bilities of  education.  Nearly  a  million  new 
readers  graduate  from  the  Indian  government 
schools  every  year.  A  large  proportion  of  these 
are  Moslems.    Christian  missions  to-day  are  all 


262     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

educational  to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  Of  many- 
parts  of  the  world  it  may  be  said,  as  in  the  case 
of  Uganda,  that  an  inquirer  is  called  a  reader.  We 
have  found  the  children  of  the  mountain  villages 
of  Oman  the  best  purchasers  of  Gospels  and  Old 
Testament  portions,  and  in  some  of  the  day 
schools  of  this  wholly  Moslem  province  they  are 
actually  using  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon  as  a  read- 
ing book.  One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  for  the 
future  is  to  see  groups  of  Moslem  children  poring 
over  Gospel  portions  which  they  have  purchased 
from  some  wayfaring  colporteur,  often  in  out-of- 
the-way  places.  The  Scriptures  reach  centres 
which  are  at  present  inaccessible  to  the  mission- 
ary, and  an  order  for  an  Arabic  Bible  has  been 
received  from  Mecca.  A  few  verses  on  a  piece  of 
paper,  taken  from  Bathurst  to  Timbuktu  by  a 
trader,  led  to  the  order  for  the  complete  Book 
from  which  they  were  taken,  to  be  brought  on  the 
next  journey;  and  on  the  next,  for  eighteen  Arabic 
Bibles.  So  the  way  of  the  Lord  is  prepared.  Let 
the  Scriptures  be  read,  and  the  contrast  between 
Christ  and  Mohammed  must  be  apparent  even  to 
the  mind  of  a  child. 

Together  with  the  Bible  there  are  the  begin- 
nings of  children's  literature.  In  England  and 
America  every  stage  from  babyhood  to  adoles- 
cence is  carefully  considered  in  the  book  world, 
but  in  many  Moslem  languages  nothing  is  yet  pre- 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  263 

pared  that  is  worthy  of  note ;  and  there  is  a  loud 
call  to  meet  this  need.  Miss  I.  Lilias  Trotter,  in 
writing  of  this  subject,  remarks  that  the  greatest 
hope  of  winning  the  boys  for  the  Kingdom  seems 
to  be  through  the  printing  press  and  its  distribu- 
tors. In  Egypt  the  American  Mission  brings  out 
a  magazine  for  children  in  Arabic,  and  the  Beirut 
Press,  as  well  as  the  Nile  Mission  Press,  has 
issued  some  translations  of  English  stories;  but 
few  of  these  are  specially  written  for  Moslem 
readers.  Here  is  a  new  world  of  opportunity  to 
be  conquered, — from  the  simplest  card  that  would 
catch  the  eye  of  the  waif  on  the  street  to  illus- 
trated story  books  for  boys  and  girls  in  their 
teens,  or  the  wonders  of  science  and  the  beauties 
of  nature  told  in  the  language  of  childhood. 

**The  time  is  short,''  says  Miss  Trotter;  '* while 
we  wait  the  present  generation  of  boyhood  will 
be  swept  past  our  reach,  without  a  hand  held  out 
to  it  in  its  wild  temptations  and  its  infinite  possi- 
bilities. Boys  who  went  unnoticed  through  the 
Sunday  Schools  of  long  ago,  some  even  who  were 
their  bane,  have  returned  as  inquirers,  bringing 
their  wives  and  their  babies  along  with  them,  and 
are  beginning  to  stand  out,  illuminated  with  the 
daybreak. ' ' 

The  impact  of  Western  civilization  upon  the 
whole  world  of  Islam  will  compel  those  who  are 
responsible  for  the  uplift  of  Mohammedan  child- 


^64     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

hood  to  prepare  a  pure  literature.  The  newly- 
aroused  intellectual  life  must  be  guided  into  clean 
channels  of  thought.  Already  we  may  see  how 
educated  Moslem  youth  is  misguided  and  cor- 
rupted by  the  worst  of  European  literature.  As 
a  missionary  in  Turkey  remarked :  ^  *  It  is  deplora- 
ble when  children  born  into  new  intellectual  life 
through  the  missionary  agency  are  left  to  grow 
up  on  such  food  as  they  can  get  from  France.  .  .  . 
Shall  we  deny  to  the  children  of  our  own  prayers 
the  river  of  the  water  of  Life,  with  its  trees  of 
sweet  fruit  and  leaves  for  the  healing  of  the  na- 
tions, and  send  them  to  the  slimy  waste  waters  of 
the  worst  continental  literature  to  quench  their 
thirst  ? ' '  Although  the  work  of  preparing  suitable 
literature  for  Moslem  childhood  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy, much  has  been  done  by  mission  presses  and 
religious  literature  societies,  and  more  is  being 
attempted  year  by  year.  Over  the  doors  of  these 
institutions  one  might  well  write  the  verses  of 
Katharine  Tynan : 

"I  gather  rich  stores  for  the  children,  the  children. 
The  lowing  of  oxen  is  heard  as  I  come; 
I  carry  the  sheaves  in  my  arms  for  the  children, 
Oh,  sweet  on  the  hill- top  the  lights  of  home! 

"  Unless  the  Lord  build  it,  the  house  for  the  children ; 
Unless  He  be  with  me,  my  labour's  in  vain. 
He  has  thought  it,  and  planned  it,  the  fold  for  the  children. 
Where  the  lambs  may  be  folded  without  fear  or  stain. 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  265 

"  I  fight  the  holy  fight  for  the  children,  the  children ; 
The  sons  of  God  glorious  sit  down  at  my  board; 
Though  the  foes  hem  us  in,  shall  I  fear  for  the  children. 
Fighting  the  strong  fight  in  the  name  of  the  Lord?" 


And  it  is  a  fight  to  train  the  Moslem  child's  mind 
and  to  win  its  heart:  a  fight  against  heredity 
age-long;  against  environment,  such  as  we  have 
seen  described ;  and  most  of  all,  against  the  opposi- 
tion of  parents  and  Moslem  leaders  who  are  un- 
willing that  any  of  these  children  should  be  taken 
away  from  under  the  yoke  of  Islam.  The  fight 
would  be  hopeless  if  we  stood  alone  in  it,  but  He 
that  is  greater  than  all  is  with  us.  No  one  can 
snatch  them  out  of  His  hand,  and  His  hand  is 
stretched  out  to  draw  them  to  Himself.  Christ 
alone  can  right  their  wrongs,  lighten  their  dark- 
ness, and  dispel  their  ignorance.  Once  these  little 
lambs  hear  His  voice  they  will  follow  their  Shep- 
herd: nay,  they  will  endure  persecution  for  His 
sake.  The  story  is  told  of  two  little  girls,  sisters, 
in  Algeria,  the  one  fifteen  and  the  other  seven, 
who  first  learned  to  know  the  Friend  of  children 
at  the  girls'  hostel  of  the  M.  E.  Mission. 

**When  Algyia,  helpless,  was  in  the  Moslem 
home  under  pretext  of  a  three  days'  visit,  the 
women  shouted  and  used  threats  to  make  her  a 
*  witness'  to  the  false  prophet,  that  is,  acknowl- 
edge Mohammed.  *I  will  follow  Jesus  till  I  die,' 
was  the  only  answer.     'And,'  added  the  little 


£66    CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

sister,  *then  she  went  away  alone  and  sang 
**Jusqu'a  la  mort  nous  serons  fideles"  (Faithful 
we  will  be  unto  death)  to  encourage  herself,  you 
know/  Then  they  threatened  to  kill  them  with  a 
knife  if  they  were  obdurate  or  attempted  to  es- 
cape. But  Algyia  refused.  The  women  said,  *  She 
finds  her  strength  in  the  Book.  Tear  it  up  and 
she  will  fail.^  So  they  tore  up  the  New  Testa- 
ment. *  And  that  was  the  only  time,'  said  the  little 
sister,  *that  Algyia  cried.'  *' 

Such  instances  of  the  faithfulness  of  little  chil- 
dren might  be  multiplied.  The  spirit  of  martyr- 
dom is  not  dead,  as  the  records  of  girls'  schools 
in  Cairo  and  in  India  would  show,  but  publicity 
in  these  cases  often  means  added  persecution.  A 
better  day  is  dawning,  however,  a  day  of  liberty 
not  only  for  Moslem  manhood  but  for  the  home. 

If  the  evangelization  of  Moslem  childhood  is 
part  of  the  plan  of  God — and  no  thoughtful  Chris- 
tian man  or  woman  can  for  a  moment  doubt  this 
• — there  never  was  a  time  when  this  task  was  more 
urgent  and  more  possible  than  it  is  to-day.  As 
the  Koran  itself  says:  ** Every  nation  has  its  ap- 
pointed time,  and  when  that  appointed  time  comes 
they  cannot  hold  it  back  an  hour."  There  is  no 
part  of  the  whole  world  field  that  has  seen  more 
stupendous  changes,  political  and  social,  within 
the  last  two  years  than  has  Southeast  Europe, 
North  Africa,   and   Western  Asia.     Politically 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  267 

Islam  has  lost  its  power  throughout  the  whole  of 
Africa,  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  is  losing  its  grip 
even  on  Asia.  Where  formerly  all  evangelistic 
effort  carried  on  directly  for  Moslems  was  inter- 
dicted or  suppressed  by  the  jealousy  of  Moslem 
governors  and  rulers,  to-day  Islam  has  lost  its 
sword,  and  the  very  disasters  which  have  over- 
taken its  rulers  have  chastened  and  subdued  the 
hearts  of  Moslems  everywhere.  The  great  Euro- 
pean war,  with  all  its  horrors,  has  nevertheless 
helped  to  this  end.  The  whole  of  North  Africa 
has  passed  under  European  Government.  This 
means  settled  administration,  modern  education, 
and  the  inevitable  breakdown  of  Moslem  opposi- 
tion. All  the  conditions  emphasize  that  this  is  the 
time  of  times  for  large  effort.  It  was  the  convic- 
tion of  a  representative  gathering  of  Egyptian 
missionaries  recently  held  that : 

*'God  is  calling  us  to  special  effort  on  behalf 
of  the  Moslems  ...  by  doors  of  opportunity 
which  His  providence  has  opened  up,  and  by  an 
era  of  responsiveness  which  has  been  ushered  in 
through  the  manifest  operations  of  His  Holy 
Spirit.  Today,  as  never  before,  there  is  manifest 
among  Moslems  an  interest  in  Christianity  and 
its  teachings." 

Of  what  was  once  the  Turkish  Empire  Dr. 
James  I.  Barton  says:  **We  are  confronted  with 
an  opportunity  and  a  responsibility  never  before 


268     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

faced  in  the  same  peculiar  form,  and  in  the  same 
degree,  by  any  missionary  society.  .  .  .  These 
opportunities  will  not  indefinitely  remain.  They 
are  ours  to-day.'*  A  missionary  in  Morocco 
writes  to  say  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Moslem 
children  are  accessible  to  those  who  make  tactful 
efforts  for  their  uplift  and  education;  and  simi- 
lar testimony  comes  from  Persia,  India,  and 
China. 

This  world  of  Moslem  childhood,  so  numerous 
and  dwelling  in  areas  so  vast  in  the  occupied  and 
unoccupied  fields  of  the  world,  has  passed  before 
our  vision.  We  have  seen  something  of  their  en- 
vironment, of  the  conditions  childhood  faces  from 
infancy  to  adolescence;  how  much  their  minds 
and  hearts  are  neglected,  as  well  as  their  bodies ; 
how  much  is  left  out  of  their  lives  that  should  be 
put  in,  and  how  much  is  put  in  that  should  be  left 
out.  The  facts  themselves  are  the  strongest  ap- 
peal. Yet  one  comes  back  again  and  again,  as  we 
gaze  into  the  faces  of  these  little  children,  show- 
ing such  possibilities  and  opportunities,  to  those 
words  of  the  Master:  ** Suffer  the  little  children 
to  come  unto  Me  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such 
is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 

The  evangelization  of  the  Moslem  world  in  this 
generation  may  dismay  even  the  most  dauntless 
faith,  but  the  evangelization  of  the  coming  genera- 
tion is  not  an  impossible  task  to  those  who  have 


I* 

O 


>'  .5 
m    CO 

I       en 

04 


THE  IMPACT  OF  THE  WEST  269 

witnessed  the  accessibility  and  responsiveness  of 
childhood.  One  generation  of  these  children 
understood  as  they  should  be,  loved  as  they  ask 
to  be,  and  approached  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  with  His  highest  gift,  the  Gospel, 
would  transform  the  world  of  Islam  into  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven.  What  we  do  for  them  must  be 
done  now.  We  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that 
sent  us  while  it  is  day,  for  the  night  cometh  when 
no  man  can  work.  The  mortality  of  childhood  and 
its  immortality  unite  to  show  the  urgency  of  the 
task.  When  we  think  of  the  physical  ills  which 
they  suffer,  of  their  poor  dwarfed  bodies  in  so 
many  cases,  of  child  marriage,  of  the  too  brief 
period  before  adolescence  and  the  responsibilities 
of  manhood  and  womanhood,  one's  heart  aches  to 
help  them. 

"O  little  feet!  that  such  long  years 
Must  wander  on  through  hopes  and  fears. 
Must  ache  and  bleed  beneath  your  load; 
I,  nearer  to  the  wayside  inn 
Where  toil  shall  cease  and  rest  begin, 
Am  weary  thinking  of  your  road!  " 

And  then  comes  the  inspiration  of  the  latent 
possibilities  in  Moslem  childhood;  of  what  it 
would  mean  to  train  them,  to  transform  them,  to 
have  Jesus  Christ  transfigure  their  lives  by  His 
indwelling.  He  is  sufficient  for  all  their  need, 
and  conscious  of  His  presence  with  all  those  who 


rtO     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

attempt  this  task,  we  can  by  faith  see  the  day 
approaching  when  these  children  shall  grow  up 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord, 
to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ. 


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New  York,  1914. 

MacDonald,  D.  B "  Aspects  of  Islam," 

New  York:   Macmillan,  1911. 

MacDonald,  D.  B "  Moral  Education  of  the  Young 

Among  Moslems  " 
{International      Journal      of 
Ethics,  Vol.  XV). 

Margoliouth,  D.  S "  Mohammedanism," 

London:    Williams   and  Nor- 
gate,  1913. 

Martin,  Frank  A "  Under  the  Absolute  Amir," 

New  York:  Harper,  1907. 

Meakin,  Budgett "  The  Moors," 

London:  Macmillan,  1902. 

Montet,  E "  Saint  Worship  in  North  Africa  " 

{The    Moslem    World,    July, 
1913). 

Mohammedan  World  of  To-day, 

The  "  Cairo  Conference  Report," 

New  York:  Revell,  1906. 


AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO  ^73 

Moslem  World  Quarterly,  The.  Vols.  I-IV, 

London. 

Niebuhr,    Carsten "  Travels  in  Arabia," 

Edinburgh,  1792. 

Opitz,  Karl "  Die  Medizin  im  Koran," 

Stuttgart,  1906. 

Orr,  Capt.  C.  W.  J "The    Making    of    Northern    l^i- 

geria," 
London,  1911. 

Report  of  the  World's  Seventh  Sunday-school   Convention  held 
in  Zurich,  1913. 

Revue  du  Monde  Musulman. . .  Vols.  I-XVIII, 

Paris:  Ernest  Leroux. 

Richter,    Julius "A  History  of  Protestant  Missions 

in  the  Near  East," 
New  York:  Revell,  1910. 
Rodwell's  and  Palmer's  Koran . 
Round  Table  Quarterly  Review, 

The   "  Islam  and  the  Empire," 

December,  1913. 

Saleeby,  Janeeb  M "  Studies  in  Moro  History,  Law, 

and  Religion," 
Manila,  1905. 

Simon,  G "  Progress  and  Arrest  of  Islam  in 

Sumatra," 
London:  Marshall  Bros.,  1912. 

Todd,  M.  L "  Tripoli  the  Mysterious," 

London:  Grant  Richards,  1912. 

Tremeame,  Major "  The  Ban  of  the  Bori," 

London,  1914. 

Van  Sommer,  Annie "  Our  Moslem  Sisters," 

New  York:  Revell,  1907. 

Vischer,  Hans "  Across  the  Sahara," 

London,  1910. 

Westermarck,  Edward "  Marriage     Ceremonies     in    Mo- 
rocco," 
London,  1914. 

Wishard,  John  G "  Twenty  Years  in  Persia," 

New  York:  Revell,  1900. 


274.     CHILDHOOD  IN  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

N.B. — In  addition  to  these  books  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  the 
missionary  correspondents  whose  names  are  given  below  for  in- 
formation on  Moslem  childhood,  received  in  response  to  a  ques- 
tionnaire sent  on  in  connection  with  the  World's  Seventh  Sunday- 
school  Convention,  held  at  Zurich,  Switzerland,  July  8-15,  1913. 
A  part  of  this  questionnaire  dealt  with  the  present  condition  of 
Moslem  children  in  regard  to  their  numbers,  their  condition  in- 
tellectually, their  education,  childhood  diseases,  mortality,  and 
moral  conditions,  judged  by  Christian  standards.  The  rest  of 
the  questionnaire  was  concerned  particularly  with  educational 
and  Sunday-school  work  among  them: 


Mr.  H.  P.  Elson,  Morocco 
Miss  F.  M.  Banks,  Morocco 
Miss  A.  E.  Gordon,  Morocco 
Rev.  Percy  Smith,  Morocco 
Rev.  F.  F.  Goodsell,  Morocco 
Mr.  C.  Nairn,  Morocco 
Mr.   J.  C.  H.  Purdon,  Tunisia 
Mr.  Evan  E.   Short,  Tunisia 
Mr.  Arthur  V.  Liley,  Tunisia 
Mr.   Joseph   C.   Cooksey,   Tunisia 
Mr.  W.  Reid,  Tripoli 
Rev.  E.  F.  Frease,  Algeria 
M.  Michel  L.   Olives,  Algeria 
Mr.  Thomas  J.  P.  Warren,  Algeria 
Misses   Read,   Turner,   and  John- 
ston, Algeria 
Mr.  Joseph   T.  C.  Blackmore,  Al- 
geria 
Miss  I.  Lilias  Trotter,  Algeria 
Mr.    E.   J.    C.    Cox,   Kabylia    (Al- 
geria) 
Rev.  F.  W.  Dodds.  West  Africa 
Mr.  A.  Jehle,   West  Africa 
Mr.  E.  Funke,  West  Africa 
Rev.      Raymond      P.      Dougherty, 

West  Africa 
Rev.  T.  A.  Lambie,  Sudan 
Rev.    Carl   Nauhaus,   East   Africa 
Mr.  P.  Olsson,  East  Africa 
Rev.  Klamroth,  Bast  Africa 
Mr.  E.  Minkner,  Natal 
Rev.    G.    B.    A.    Gardener,    South 

Africa 
Rev.  C.  Muller,  South  Africa 
Rev.  John  Giflfen,  Egypt 
Mr.  George  Swan,  Egypt 
Mrs.  M.  L.  Richardson,  Egypt 
Mr.  P.  Bijl,  Egypt 
Mr.  James  S.  Stewart,  Syria 
President  Howard  S.  Bliss,  Syria 


Rev.  F.  E.  Hoskins,  Syria 
Miss  M.   L.  Johnston,   Syria 
Rev.   J.  P.  McNaughton.  Turkey 
Mrs.   I.   S.   Stapleton,  Turkey 
Rev.  H.  M.  Irwin,  Turkey 
Rev.  G.  E.  White,  Turkey 
Rev.  J.  E.  Merrill,  Turkev-in-Asia 
Rev.  S.  C.  Webb,  Palestine 
Mr.  Frank  T.  Ellis,  Palestine 
Mr.   E.  A.   Thompson,  Palestine 
Miss  A.  H.  M.  Neile,  Palestine 
Rev.  R.   Sterling,  Palestine 
Miss  Blanche   E.   Smithies,  Pales- 
tine 
Mr.    Frederick    Carpenter,    Pales- 
tine 
Rev.   F.  J.  Jessup,  Persia 
Miss  Mary  R.   S.   Bird,  Persia 
Mr.  H.  P.  Packard,  Persia 
Rev.  W.  A.  Shedd,  Persia 
Rev.  James  Cantine,  Arabia 
Rev.  J.  C.  Young,  M.D.,  Arabia 
Rev.  F.  J.  Barny,  Arabia 
Rev.  E.  E.  Calverley,  Arabia 
Rev.  P.  V.  Boyes,  Turkish  Arabia 
Mr.   Harry  C.   York,   Ceylon 
Prof.  W.  J.  Johory,  India 
Rev.  E.   M.    Wherry,  India 
Mr.  George  H.  Hamler,  India 
Miss  E.  J.  Williams,  India 
Rev.  Robert  Maxwell,  India 
Rev.  H.  J.  Scudder,  India 
Mr.  C.  Bolwig,  Manchuria 
Mr.  H.   H.  Lowry,  China 
Mr.  F.  Herbert  Rhodes,  China 
Mr.    D.    Crommelin,    Java 
Rev.  R.  J.  Denyes,  .Tava 
Rev.   Job.   Rauws,   Malaysia 
Rev.     W.    G.     Shellabear,    Malay 

Peninsula 
George  A.  Simons,  M.D.,  Russia 


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The  Education  of  Women  in  China 

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S.  M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S. 


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Studies  in  the  Geography,  People  and  Politics  of 
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CONCERNING  FOREIGN  LANDS 


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